Bernardo Pasquini’s oratorio Sant’Agnese, recounts the martyrdom in the year 304 of a young Roman girl, the patron saint of chastity. The oratorio and the martyrdom of Agnes of Rome, the patroness of ...

Since the ninth century, the routes to Santiago de Compostela leading to the sanctuary of St. James have attracted countless pilgrims and exercised a potent mystique.

Apollo’s Fire, under the direction of Jeannette Sorrell, presents an exploration of the four quarters of Old Jerusalem (Jewish, Christian, Arab, and Armenian/Byzantine).

Václav Luks conducts Collegium 1704 and Collegium Vocale 1704 in a program of sacred music capturing the depth of Holy Week. Performed on period instruments, this outstanding ensemble offers an intens...

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, Cristób...

Written in the last decade of his life, Bach’s chorale preludes for organ mark the pinnacle of his sacred works for organ. Daniel Gauss, organist at the Bern Cathedral, plays the Gottlieb Leuw organ, ...

German Baroque wedding festivities combined solemn ceremony and joyful celebration, the latter often spread over several days. Vox Luminis and the Freiburg Baroque Consort unite to perform wedding mus...

Nicholas Kraemer leads the Czech Philharmonic, Collegium Vocale 1704, and vocal soloists in one of the supreme works of the Baroque era; one that has fascinated musicians and listeners for more than 2...

Love is complicated, but not as complicated as the music that celebrates it.

Marc Mauillon and friends (Maud Haering, Angélique Mauillon, Nolwenn Le Guern, and Pierre Hamon bring us the romantic Le Remède de Fortune, a “dit,” or narrative poem with music by Guillame de Machaut...

Early keyboardist Terence Charlston presents the first recording on clavichord of the complete fantasias and canzonas from Johann Jacob Froberger's Libro Secondo, written in 1649.

Violinist Fabio Biondi leads Europa Galante in Italian sonatas by Corelli, Vivaldi, Geminiani, Tartini, Veracini and Locatelli. Recorded live in concert July 22, 2023, in the extraordinary acoustics o...

Baroque&Before’s special extended Christmas edition presents Johann Sebastian Bach‘s Christmas Oratorio, written for the Christmas season of 1734-1735.

The Christmas season was an extremely busy time for church composers in the eighteenth century: congregations expected newly written music every year. A tradition emerged in the early seventeenth cent...

Handel recast the story of Judas Maccabeus as a celebratory ode to King George II, with music of unprecedented refinement, gripping suspense, and drama.

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, Cristób...

Voces Suaves and Basel’s Capricornus Consort join forces for a program of madrigals and instrumental works by Monteverdi, Giaches De Wert, and their contemporaries.

Italy, the land of longing for Germans for centuries, Handel among them. Early music conductor Andrea Marcon leads the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra in an exploration of “the Italian taste.” They...

The title is French and sums it up: “Six Concerts avec plusieurs instruments,” as Bach himself called his famous concerto collection. The Swiss recorder player and conductor Maurice Steger and Frankfu...

François Couperin knew all too well that the artist, immersed in the uncertainties of his world, must depend on the protection of a patron who, in return, enhances his social image as a promoter of th...

Nicholas Kraemer leads the Czech Philharmonic, Collegium Vocale 1704, and vocal soloists in one of the supreme works of the Baroque era; one that has fascinated musicians and listeners for more than 2...

Creating a musical exploration of the complex intertwinings – the sacred bridges – between Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.

Passionate about Hebraic spiritual traditions, Benedetto Marcello was inspired by the extraordinary faith he encountered in the synagogues of early 18th-century Venice. Selections from Marcello’s sett...

Ramon Llull (1232-1316) was one of the most prominent writers and poets of medieval Catalonia, living at a time marked by the coexistence, not always peacefully, of the three Abrahamic religious cultu...

Known as the “Spanish Palestrina,” Tomás Luis de Victoria has been called the greatest of all Iberian composers.

We celebrate violinist Jaap Schröder, one of the first pioneers to present performances of baroque, and later, classical works, on period instruments.

Peace, love, hope, salvation. Soprano Hana Blažíková joins Capella de la Torre for a program of early seventeenth-century Germany and Italy celebrating an age of miracles. Recorded live in concert Jul...

Inspired by Hans Memling’s altarpiece for a Spanish nunnery, and using instruments built especially for this project, historical brass ensemble Oltremontano Antwerp and the female vocal ensemble Tibur...

Jeannette Sorrell, founder and director of Apollo's Fire, describes Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers as "daringly avant-garde...”

More than 150 composers have incorporated the La Follia theme into their own works. On this edition of Baroque&Before, Soprano Núria Rial joins Ensemble 1700, under the direction of recorder player Do...

El Llibre Vermell de Montserrat, or the Red Book of Montserrat, is a 14th-century collection of devotional texts and music.

We celebrate the artistic legacy of Spanish mezzo-soprano Teresa Berganza, who died May 13, 2022 at the age of 89.

Mothers and wives are the roles traditionally assigned to women. For centuries, however, a large number of well-educated and privileged women — empresses, queens, nuns, aristocrats, and businesswomen ...

Works by two composers from Spain with a Neapolitan connection: Toledo-born composer and music theorist Diego Ortiz, and Catalan musician and Benedictine monk Joan Cererols.

Along with Andrés Segovia, Bream is regarded as the most charismatic and influential classical guitarist of the 20th century.

A child prodigy born into a wealthy Ferraresi family, Girolamo Frescobaldi published his Fiori musicali in 1635. Close to 60 years old, these musical flowers are his only compositions devoted to churc...

On this week’s edition of Baroque&Before, Giulio Prandi leads the Ghislieri Chorus, Orchestra, and soloists in Mattutino de’ Morti by Davide Perez, born in Naples of Spanish heritage. The work, writte...

Harpsichordist Marcin Świątkiewicz and Ensemble Arte dei Suonatori lead us on a fascinating journey through the diversity of the Baroque era, exploring Polish influences in works by Johann Sebastian B...

Violinist Fabio Biondi leads Europa Galante in Italian sonatas by Corelli, Vivaldi, Geminiani, Tartini, Veracini and Locatelli. Recorded live in concert July 22, 2023, in the extraordinary acoustics o...

Violinist Fabio Biondi leads Europa Galante in Italian sonatas by Corelli, Vivaldi, Geminiani, Tartini, Veracini and Locatelli. Recorded live in concert July 22, 2023, in the extraordinary acoustics o...

François Couperin knew all too well that the artist, immersed in the uncertainties of his world, must depend on the protection of a patron who, in return, enhances his social image as a promoter of th...

Roman, Germanic, Byzantine, French, Arabic, and Jewish cultures all contributed to Spanish music.

Nicholas Kraemer leads the Czech Philharmonic, Collegium Vocale 1704, and vocal soloists in one of the supreme works of the Baroque era; one that has fascinated musicians and listeners for more than 2...

Peace, love, hope, salvation. Soprano Hana Blažíková joins Capella de la Torre for a program of early seventeenth-century Germany and Italy celebrating an age of miracles. Recorded live in concert Jul...

In July 1707, three works by Handel were performed in the Church of Santa Maria in Montesanto in Rome: Nisi Dominus and Dixit Dominus on 16 July, and Salve Regina on 19 July. The influential Colonna f...

Mothers and wives are the roles traditionally assigned to women. For centuries, however, a large number of well-educated and privileged women — empresses, queens, nuns, aristocrats, and businesswomen ...

Baroque&Before celebrates the deliverance of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt with a program of sacred, paraliturgical, celebratory, and secular music of the Jews of the Mediterranean.

Inspired by Hans Memling’s altarpiece for a Spanish nunnery, and using instruments built especially for this project, historical brass ensemble Oltremontano Antwerp and the female vocal ensemble Tibur...