Music of the Baroque concert, April 3rd 2023. (Photo: Elliot Mandel)
Chicago’s Music of the Baroque ensemble continues to expand their horizons for their 56th season. The group’s 2026-27 concert series, titled “Heights of Genius,” focuses on masterpieces from various composers’ careers.
Principal conductor Dame Jane Glover opens the season on September 27 with a program dedicated to Mozart’s final works: his Symphony 40 and 41, as well as his Piano Concerto No. 27. The concert marks the final Chicago performance of pianist Dame Imogene Cooper, Glover’s longtime friend and collaborator, who will retire in February 2027.
Mozart is followed by Bach a few months later, when soloists Joélle Harvey, Clara Osowski, Colin Ainsworth, and Roderick Williams join Music of the Baroque for Bach’s Mass in B Minor on November 22 and 23. A fan favorite is also expected to return this fall: Music of the Baroque’s Chicago Water Music concert combines music about water with a Chicago River boat tour.
Music of the Baroque at a September 2025 Chicago Water Music concert. (Photo: Elliot Mandel)
Music of the Baroque returns to the theme of Bach in March 2027 through a collaboration with Concert Theater Works. On March 21 and 22, the ensemble will perform Malcolm Bruno’s 2019 reconstruction of Bach’s Markus-Passion, which had originally been lost in the century or so following Bach’s death. The production features soloists Pascale Beaudin, Cody Bowers, Eric Ferring, and Jonathan Woody, with actor Joseph Marcell in the role of the Evangelist.
Conductors making appearances throughout next season include the ensemble’s Principal Guest Conductor Nicholas Kraemer, who focuses on music of Vivaldi on October 18 and 19. Kraemer returns to close out the year with his annual choir showcase program “Celestial Voices,” exploring works from Byrd and Bach to Handel and Purcell in some of the city’s most beautiful spaces.
Andrew Megill will continue an almost 50-year tradition when he steps in to direct the Music of the Baroque’s Holiday Brass & Choral Concerts December 17 through 20. Special guest David Bates makes his conducting debut with the ensemble in January through a program of 17th- and 18th-century English music. Finally, Marc Minkowski returns to lead the Music of the Baroque chorus in Charpentier’s festive Te Deum and more on April 11 and 12.
Throughout the 2026-27 concert season, Music of the Baroque will perform at its usual homes at the Harris Theater (Chicago) and the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts (Skokie), with select dates at Symphony Center and various Chicago area churches. For full details, visit https://www.baroque.org/
