Music of the Baroque is an American professional chorus and orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. Most members of the orchestra also perform with other groups, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Lyric Opera of Chicago. Chorus members have active operatic, teaching and recital careers and several perform regularly as soloists with Music of the Baroque.
History
The ensemble was founded by Thomas S. Wikman in 1972 as a program of the choir of the Church of St. Paul and the Redeemer in Hyde Park. It was incorporated as a nonprofit organization in 1975, and received critical acclaim early in its history. Conductor Jane Glover was named Music Director in September 2002. Nicholas Kraemer is the ensemble's Principal Guest Conductor. William Jon Gray was named chorus director in 2010. Declan McGovern has been the organization's executive director since 2017. Works performed have included Claudio Monteverdi’s operas and 1610 Vespers, Georg Philipp Telemann’s Day of Judgment, Mozart’s Idomeneo, numerous Handel operas and oratorios, and the major choral works of J. S. Bach. In recent seasons, Music of the Baroque has given modern premieres of several works by Telemann, including the cantatas, "Nun ist das Heil und die Kraft," "Dich rühmen die Welten," and "Siehe, das ist Gottes Lamm." The group has also performed on radio broadcasts and recordings on 98.7 WFMT Radio. They received an Emmy Award nomination for their DVD, "A Renaissance Christmas". The ensemble announced the details of their 50th anniversary season in February 2020. Opening in September, programs will include Haydn's Creation, the group's first-ever performance of all six Brandenburg Concertos in the same evening, the group's first performances in a decade of Handel's Messiah at Thanksgiving, and Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero's debut with the group in performances of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21. Andrew Megill, conductor of the Montreal Symphony Chorus and the Carmel Bach Festival Chorale, will lead the Holiday Brass & Choral Concerts in December, the ensemble’s longest-running tradition. Joining Music of the Baroque as guest conductor for the first time is renowned early music specialist John Butt, founder and director of Scotland’s Dunedin Consort. Butt will lead the orchestra in a program featuring concertos by Vivaldi and others. The cornerstone of the 50th anniversary celebration will be the ensemble's first performances in over a decade of Bach’s monumental Passion According to St. Matthew, featuring critically acclaimed British tenor James Gilchrist singing the role of the Evangelist. The performances will also serve as the second installment of the group's four-recording Bach project. The group will also present its second Baroque in the Park, an open-air performance on the stage of the Pritzker Pavilion featuring highlights of the 50th season plus other Baroque works.
Recordings
Music of the Baroque's available recordings include "Glover Conducts Mozart," featuring Symphonies 40 and 41; "Mother & Child," recorded live during the ensemble's 2013 holiday concerts and conducted by Paul Agnew; "On This Night," recorded live during the ensemble's 2017 holiday concerts and conducted by William Jon Gray; and Telemann's Day of Judgement. The ensemble plans to release a recording of Bach's Mass in B Minor, recorded live in September 2019 and conducted by Music Director Jane Glover, in the fall of 2020.
