Wednesdays at 10:00 pm
A fresh feast of early music every week.
Join host Candice Agree for WFMT’s exciting weekly program of early music. Baroque&Before explores works written before 1750, featuring live concert recordings from some of the world’s most prestigious early music festivals, as well as commercially released recordings from WFMT’s vast library. From Russia to the Americas, from Northern Europe to the Mediterranean and Middle East, Candice presents internationally known artists on the early music scene, crafting a delightful mix of musicianship, music, and history.
Treasures of the Neapolitan Baroque
February 20, 2019
In this recital from La Folia Early Music Festival, young French mezzo-soprano Juliette De Banes Gardonne is featured in a program of cantatas by Caresana, Porpora and Alessandro Scarlatti, little known, and in one case, unpublished, Joined by a chamber ensemble composed of harpsichord, theorbo, cello, flute, and violin. Recorded live in concert in Rougemont, Switzerland’s Church of Saint Nicholas.
L’Air français: The Art of the Intimate
February 13, 2019
In anticipation of Valentine’s Day, William Christie leads soprano Elodie Fonnard, baritone Marc Mauillon, and members of Les Arts Florissants in a program of airs, chansons, and cantatas. Recorded live in concert in the Chamber Hall of the Auditori in Girona (Gerona) as part of Nits de Clàssica a Girona (Classical Nights in Girona.)
Festive Music from the Hapsburg Court of Charles VI
February 6, 2019
Angelo Ragazzi’s Mass for his Holy Roman benefactor Charles VI is the centerpiece of tonight program. Lost for some 300 years, it’s presented tonight along with a Serenade by Ragazzi’s predecessor at the Habsburg Court, Johann Joseph Fux. Recorded live in concert August 18, 2018, in the French Church in Bern, Switzerland by the early music orchestra Les Passions de ...
Jean Guillou: Requiescet in pace
January 30, 2019
French organist, composer, pedagogue and organ builder Jean Guillou died January 26. He was 88. This week we remember Jean Guillou, titular organist at L’Église St. Eustache in Paris for 52 years, by his interpretations of Vivaldi, Bach, and more. Recordings used in this program come from Classical WFMT’s Richard and Mary L. Gray Music Library.
Cantate Deo — Sacred music from 17th-century Italy
January 23, 2019
Accordone, the innovative ensemble founded in 1984 by Guido Morini and Marco Beasley, presents celestial songs (motets for two similar voices) from the early 17th century by composers including Donati, Giamberti, and Monteverdi. Tonight’s recital was recorded live in concert June 6 in St. Procopius Basilica in the Moravian town of Třebíč, part of the Concentus Moraviae Festival.
La Scintilla: Sacred Baroque Music from Zürich
January 16, 2019
Orchestra La Scintilla was formed in 1998 by members of the Zürich Opera Orchestra. Early music was the spark (la scintilla) for the creation of the music ensemble. Contralto Wiebke Lehmkul and soprano Ana Quintans join the orchestra, led by Ottavio Dantone, for a program workwork by Alessandro Scarlatti, Gregori, Caldara, and Porpora. Recorded live in concert July 2, 2018, ...
Jordi Savall & The Red Book of Montserrat
January 9, 2019
The Shrine of the Virgin of Montserrat was a major pilgrimage site in the 14th century. El Llibre Vermell de Montserrat, or the Red Book of Montserrat, is a 14th-century collection of devotional texts and music for the pilgrims to the Catalonian Montserrat Monastery. Tonight we hear selections from the 6 music folios contained in El Llibre Vermell, presented by ...
Jos van Immerseel: Solo Organ Recital
January 2, 2019
Long before he was known as a conductor, Belgian musician Jos van Immerseel triumphed as a keyboardst, equally at home on harpsichord, fortepiano and organ. For his appearance in the Concentus Moraviae Festival, Mr. Immerseel gave a solo recital on the unique organ of Dubrovnik’s Church of the Elevation of the Holy Cross. Recorded live in concert.
Ave Atque Vale: Hail & Farewell
December 26, 2018
As 2018 draws to a close, we remember the life and work of three classical artists who died this past year, each, in various degrees, dedicating himself or herself to the performance and diffusion of early music: Italian conductor and founder of I Solisti Veneti Claudio Scimone, French oboist, conductor, and founder of La Grande Écurie et la Chambre du ...
French & German Baroque Music for Christmas
December 19, 2018
On this special two-hour Christmas edition of Baroque&Before, we present a Bach Concert for Christmas from Austria’s Sankt Pölten Cathedral, recorded live in concert December 8th; as well as a French Baroque Christmas from Montreal, recorded live in concert December 9th. Listen to this special Christmas program again anytime from December 20 through January 5, 2019 by pressing the “Listen” ...
Praetorius & Monteverdi in Dialogue
December 12, 2018
Ensemble le Moment Baroque, performing on period instruments, presents Praetorius & Monteverdi en dialogue, a program comparing two of the most important composers of the 17th century. We’ll hear instrumental selections from Claudio Monteverdi’s operas, as well as from Terpsichore of 1612 by Michael Praetorius. Recorded live in concert January 25, 2018, in the Église Saint Germain, a 13th-century church ...
Solomon Rossi & His Contemporaries
December 5, 2018
Soprano Sherezade Panthaki joins Philharmonia Baroque Chamber Players and members of the Philharmonia Chorale, under the direction of Nicholas McGegan, for Italian baroque music of the synagogue, the theater, and the court: sacred and secular works by Salamone Rossi, Claudio Monteverdi, and Benedetto Marcello. Tonight’s program was recorded live in concert April 8, 2018, in the Performance Hall of the ...
Pierre Pitzl & the Solo Baroque Guitar
November 28, 2018
From Rome to Paris to the Madrid of the 17th- and early 18th centuries, Pierre Pitzl, playing Baroque guitar, presents a program of early baroque dances by Robert de Visée, Gaspar Sanz, and others. Recorded live in concert in the Zadní Synagoga, in Třebíč, Czech Republic, as part of the Concentus Moraviae Festival, held in cooperation with the Austrian Cultural ...
Motets & Masses by Palestrina
November 21, 2018
Italian organist Gianluca Capuano joins Coro della Radio Svizzera under the direction of Diego Fasolis for a program of sacred polyphony by the 16th-century master of Renaissance polyphony, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. Recorded live in concert at Papio Collegiate Church in Ascona, Switzerland, as part of the Ascona Music Weeks Festival.
La Venexiana & Musica a San Marco
November 14, 2018
Taking its name from an anonymous early 16th-century comedy, La Venexiana presents vocal and instrumental works by Italian Renaissance organist and composer Andrea Gabrieli, as well as those of his nephew, Giovanni Gabrieli. Under the direction of countertenor and conductor Claudio Cavina, Musica a San Marco was recorded live in concert in the Church of Saint Lawrence in the Swiss ...
Un Compás: A Voyage from Spain to the Orient
November 7, 2018
Euskal Barrokensemble (Basque Baroque Ensemble) explores the musical culture of the Mediterranean and its influence on Spanish and Italian classical music in this program recorded live in concert July 16, 2018, in the Troja Castle, one of Prague’s most beautiful Baroque villas, as part of Prague’s Summer Early Music Festival. This program will be available as a non-downloadable stream until ...
Pallade Musica: Buxtehude & Biber & Beyond
October 31, 2018
Acclaimed for its expressive and elegant interpretations, earning praise for “spectacular virtuosity” (Tom Strini Blog) and “tremendous ensemble sense” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,) Pallade Musica Ensemble presents a program of the German Baroque from Buxtehude to Biber to Erlebach, Bach, and Schieferlein. This recital was recorded live in concert in Montreal, Canada’s Notre-Dame-de Bon-Secours Chapel as part of the Montreal “Harpsichord ...
Merseburg Organ Festival & the French Baroque
October 24, 2018
French works of the Baroque era played on a German organ of the Romantic era. A celebration of the Bicentennial of organ builder Friedrich Ladergast at the Merseburg Cathedral, home of the organ he rebuilt in 1855. Featuring François Espinasse in Nicolas de Grigny’s Organ Mass; and Collegium Vocale Leipzig and Merseburger Hofmusik, conducted by Michael Schönheit, in Lully’s Te ...
Vivaldi & The Bohemians
October 17, 2018
The Baroque Orchestra Les Muffatti, taking its name from 17th-century composer Georg Muffat, presents a program of Bohemian composers inspired by Vivaldi, along with music by Vivaldi himself. Recorded live in concert September 6 in the Salle Académique at the University of Liège, part of the September Nights Festival.
Cantate! Sing! With the Tallis Scholars
October 10, 2018
Under the direction of founder Peter Phillips, the Tallis Scholars present one of the most exciting but least performed of all the big Tudor Mass settings: John Sheppard’s Missa Cantate. Works by William Byrd round out the program. Recorded live in concert in St. John Smith’s Square, London.
Early Baroque Music of Croatia
October 3, 2018
Early Baroque Croatian composer Vinko Jelić, noted for his readiness to take on greater freedom and search for a new vocal style, is the focus of tonight’s program, presented by the Croatian Radio-Television Chorus, soloists, and instrumentalists under the direction of conductor and music scholar Tomislav Fačini. Recorded live in concert in Zagreb, Croatia’s Mimara Museum.