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.
The Tallis Scholars in Tokyo
June 24, 2026, 10:00 pm
As part of its fiftieth anniversary world tour, The Tallis Scholars under the direction of Peter Phillips brought to Japan sacred works by Renaissance masters Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Cristóbal de Morales, Gregorio Allegri, Costanzo Festa, Elzéar Genet Carpentras, and Josquin des Prez. Recorded live in concert July 5, 2024 in Tokyo’s Opera City Concert Hall. Thanks to WFMT’s association ...
El Gran Teatro Del Mundo: The Lullists; German Baroque Music à la française
July 1, 2026, 10:00 pm
A program of “goût réuni,” or united taste, brings us the music of German composers inspired and influenced by the French style. Known as “Lullists” after Jean-Baptiste Lully, works Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer, Georg Muffat, and Georg Philipp Telemann are featured this week, presented by El Gran Teatro Del Mundo under the direction of Julio Caballero Pérez. Tonight’s program was ...
Pergolesi: Septem verba a Christo
April 17, 2019
Now attributed to Giovanni Battista Pergolesi on the basis of the most recent research, the Seven Words of Christ has been regarded, ever since it was discovered by Hermann Scherchen, as “one of the most heartfelt works of art, full of profound tenderness and an all-conquering sense of beauty.” Written during the last three years of life, the Septem verba ...
Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble: Musical Treasures at the Swedish Royal Court
April 10, 2019
Founded in 1971, the Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble presents late 17th- and early 18th-century music from Germany, Italy, Poland, and Sweden, including three works from the composer known as “The Swedish Handel.” Recorded live in concert January 21, 2017, in the Auditorium of Radio France Broadcasting House, Paris. Thanks to Classical WFMT’s association with the European Broadcasting Union, we’re able to ...
La Meridiana & Les voyages de l’amour: French Music for Woodwinds
April 3, 2019
Celebrating its 13th anniversary this year, Ensemble Meridiana’s five members come from four different countries, having met during their studies at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland, where they specialized in early music. For its program Les voyages de l’amour, Ensemble Meridiana is joined by Mirko Arnone playing theorbo and Baroque guitar. Recorded live in concert in Rougemont, Switzerland’s Church ...
A Bach Anniversary Celebration with Monteverdi Choir & English Baroque Soloists
March 20, 2019
In celebration of the 334th anniversary of the birth of Johann Sebastian Bach on March 21 (Old Style,) we present the English Baroque Soloists and Monteverdi Choir in a program of Bach’s infrequently performed cantatas. John Eliot Gardner, who founded both performance groups, conducts. Recorded live in concert May 17, 2018 in Prague, in the Rudolfinum’s Dvořák Hall, as part ...
Women Baroque Composers
March 13, 2019
Celebrating Early Music Month and Women’s History Month on this edition of Baroque&Before, with works by French and Italian women composers of the 17th and 18th centuries. Ensemble Operabyrån was recorded live in concert in Sweden’s Nordmaling Church, as part of the Nordic Baroque Festival.
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 ...
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, ...
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 keyboardist, 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 ...
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 ...
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.
