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Boston Early Music Festival

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Boston Early Music Festival
GenreEarly music
Location(s)Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Years active1981–present
Websitebemf.org

The Boston Early Music Festival (BEMF) is a non-profit organization founded in 1980 in Boston, Massachusetts, to promote historical music performance. It presents an annual concert series in Boston and New York City, produces opera recordings, and organizes a biennial week-long Festival and Exhibition in Boston.

History

One of BEMF's main goals is to unearth lesser-known Baroque operas which are performed by leading musicians, armed with the latest information on period singing, orchestral performance, costuming, dance and staging. A centerpiece of the biennial festivals is a fully staged Baroque opera production. BEMF operas are led by Artistic Directors Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs, Orchestra Director Robert Mealy, and Opera Director Gilbert Blin.

At each Festival, concerts are presented every day from morning until late at night. The concerts are given by an array of established luminaries and rising stars in the field of early music. They allow for unique collaborations and programs by performers assembled for the Festival week's events. Scheduled "Fringe" concerts and events are presented by local and out-of-town groups at venues in Boston and Cambridge.

BEMF's annual season has featured such musicians as The Tallis Scholars, Jordi Savall and Hespèrion XXI, and Les Arts Florissants, as well as the North American débuts of Stile Antico, Bach Collegium Japan, Netherlands Bach Society, and Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.

The Exhibition at the Festival is the largest event of its kind in the United States. It showcases over one hundred early instrument makers, music publishers, service organizations, schools and universities, and associated colleagues.

In 1989, BEMF established an annual concert series to meet demand for year-round performances of early music. This was expanded in 2006, with performances at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City.

In 2004, a project was initiated to record some of BEMF's work in the field of Baroque opera on the CPO recording label. The series earned five Grammy Award nominations, including a 2015 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording.

In 2008, BEMF introduced a Chamber Opera Series as part of its annual concert season. The series presents semi-staged productions of chamber operas composed during the Baroque period. In 2011, BEMF took its chamber production of Handel's Acis and Galatea on a four-city North American tour.

Operas staged

BEMF presented operas by Lully in 2001 and 2007

References

  • Burkat, Leonard & Fox, Pamela (2001). "Boston, Section 7 (i)". In Sadie, Stanley & Tyrrell, John (eds.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5.‎
  • Jaffee, Kay (January 1982). "Conference Report: Boston Early Music Festival and Exhibition, May 26–31, 1981". The Journal of Musicology. 1 (1): 125–129. doi:10.1525/jm.1982.1.1.03a00150.
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