Beyond Baroque: A season of festivals!

Beyond Baroque Spring Festival - Variation III

Our 2025 Spring Festival goes “Beyond” with music from the villages, courts and cathedrals! This wide range of concerts, artists, partners and discussions represents the idea of Beyond 

Baroque to the fullest. Featuring Tembembe Ensamble Continuo, Trio Mediaeval with Catalina Vicens, Duo CPE, and more!

Festival Lineup

March 12, 2025

Community Event With Tembembe Ensamble Continuo

7:00 PM

Tembembe Ensamble Continuo will be joined by members of the Seattle Fandango Project, Trío Guadalevín, and other local fandangeros for an evening of music, conversation, and sharing. Come and learn about the Son Jarocho practice and the cultural forces that interacted to shape this living tradition. Do you play guitar? Bring it! All are welcome!

Free entry; no registration required

Trinity Episcopal Parish - 609 8th Ave, Seattle, WA 98104

March 13, 2025

Tembembe Ensamble Continuo at Bainbridge

7:30 PM

Un Fandango Barroco

In Partnership with the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art

Tembembe Ensamble Continuo combines the music of the Spanish and Mexican Baroque guitar with today’s traditional Mexican sones. Their program, Un Fandango Barocco, demonstrates how Baroque and Traditional expressions are two faces of the same coin, distant in time and close in spirit. Tembembe Ensamble Continuo has earned praise in Mexico, the Americas, Europe, and Asia for their truly novel interpretation of this flourishing music. Tembembe Ensamble Continue was named the 2024 Christoph Wolff Distinguished Scholar Residency by Harvard University.

Bainbridge Island Museum of Art - 550 Winslow Way E, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110

March 14, 2025

Early Music America: New Directions, New Possibilities

11:30 AM

In Partnership with Early Music America and the Music Department of Cornish College for the Arts

This panel discussion and community conversation explores two topics; the explosion of interest in early music in Latin America, and the expansion of audiences as we embrace inclusiveness, diversity, and a broader definition of early music. Panelists include EMA Executive Director David McCormick (Moderator), Early Music Seattle Artistic Director Gus Denhard, baroque guitarist Eloy Cruz (Mexico), folklorist Abel Rocha (Mexico), and dance historian and director Monica Rojas Stewart (Peru). This event includes a reception sponsored by Early Music America.

All Cornish College for the Arts Events are Free for Cornish College Faculty and Students

Raisbeck Auditorium, Cornish College for the Arts - 2017 Boren Ave, Seattle, WA 98121

Duo CPE: From Gallantry to Madness

7:30 PM

Mikhail Grazhdanov & Andréa Walker

From Gallantry to Madness showcases the vast expressive spectrum of late 18th-century musical styles. During this period, the simple folk song meets the untethered sensibilities of the fantasia. This gamut of expression can be found in the musical output of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Duo CPE’s namesake. Inspired by the sensibility and cultural revolutions of the Age of the Enlightenment, Duo CPE is dedicated to pushing the bounds of historical performance practice beyond Baroque. With the fortepiano and poetic declamation at the center of their performance, historical-keyboardist Mikhail Grazhdanov and soprano Andréa Walker instill drama into performances of celebrated as well as obscure repertoire. Drawing from a wealth of music and literature from the turn of the 19th-century, Duo CPE celebrates the particularities of this period seeking to bring the intimacy and immediacy of Salon culture to modern audiences. Duo CPE was featured at the 2024 Early Music America Summit Emerging Artist Showcase. They are thrilled to be making their West Coast debut at the 2025 Early Music Seattle Beyond Baroque festival. In August of 2025, they will perform at the Cornell Center for Historical Keyboards Forte/Piano Festival.  

This concert is generously sponsored by Bill Shelby & Aly Gardner-Shelby

The Chapel at Good Shepherd Center - 4649 Sunnyside Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103

March 15, 2025

Around the World in 80 Drums With Antonio Gómez

11:00 AM

In Partnership with the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art

Percussionist and educator Antonio Gómez will introduce and perform on the percussion instruments of the ancient Mediterranean, North Africa, and Latin America. He’ll recount the stories of migration, trade and conquest that distributed the instruments and musical styles across the Western hemisphere. Antionio is a Chicano-Italian son of the American West who has studied across Latin America and in Morocco, Spain and Italy. He designs arts education programs and curricula as the Director of Community Engagement & Extended Learning at Tacoma Arts Live and has produced performing arts and curricular content for universities and PBS. He currently serves as an Associate Folklorist for the Washington Center for Cultural Traditions and is on the advisory board of Early Music Seattle.

Bainbridge Island Museum of Art - 550 Winslow Way E, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110

Tembembe Ensamble Continuo

Un Fandango Barroco

7:30 PM

Tembembe Ensamble Continuo returns to Seattle to combine music of the Spanish and Mexican Baroque guitar with today’s traditional Mexican songs. Their program, Un Fandango Barocco, demonstrates how and why Baroque and Traditional expressions are two faces of the same coin, distant in time and close in spirit. Tembembe Ensamble Continuo has earned praise in Mexico, the Americas, Europe, and Asia for their truly novel interpretation of this flourishing music. Tembembe Ensamble Continue was named the 2024 Christoph Wolff Distinguished Scholar Residency by Harvard University.

Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall - 200 University St, Seattle, WA 98101

March 16, 2025

Trio Mediaeval & Catalina Vicens

2:00 PM

An Old Hall Ladymass

Trio Mediaeval and Catalina Vicens, organetto

The GRAMMY-nominated crystalline voices of Trio Mediaeval have captivated audiences since the group was founded in Oslo in 1997. The group’s fruitful relationship with the legendary ECM Records, collaborative spirit, and busy touring schedule has earned them worldwide renown. Their program features works from a long-lost 15th Century choir book known as the Old Hall manuscript. These motets and mass movements find their voices again after more than half a millennium of silence, transformed by the singing of Trio Mediaeval and Catalina Vicens on the organetto.  

Town Hall Seattle - 1119 8th Ave, Seattle, WA 98101

Spring Festival Pass

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Beyond Baroque Variation IV

Our Final Festival brings the 2024–25 Beyond Baroque Festival season to a close with concerts and celebrations that will take you on a cultural journey from China, Persia, Palestine, and Italy. Featuring the return of the Twelfth Night Ensemble, Lute Legends, and a Nowruz Celebration with the Siriya Ensemble in collaboration with Seattle-Isfahan Sister City Advocacy (SISCA).

Festival Lineup

March 19, 2025

Twelfth Night Ensemble Workshop With MySoutheast

4:00 PM

In partnership with the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra

MY Southeast (Music Youth Southeast) is an extracurricular orchestral ensemble Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra co-created with the South Seattle community. MY Southeast contributes to the vibrant arts culture in the Rainier Valley by celebrating the gift of music and performance with the community. 12th Night Ensemble will lead a workshop for young musicians on baroque instruments and technique.

Aki Kurose Middle School - 3928 S Graham St, Seattle, WA 98118

March 20, 2025

Coffee With Lute Legends

11:30 AM

Panel in Partnership with the Music Department of Cornish College for the Arts

Join a Jam Session with Lute Legends!

All Cornish College for the Arts Events are Free for Cornish College Faculty and Students

Raisbeck Auditorium, Cornish College for the Arts - 2017 Boren Ave, Seattle, WA 98121

Lute Legends At the Frye Museum

Trade, Conquest, and the Lute

7:00 PM

SPECIAL EVENT* IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE FRYE MUSEUM

Early Music Seattle and the Frye Art Museum are thrilled to present Lute Legends: Trade, Conquest, and the Lute, a trio of players who bring the music of Europe, the Arab world, and Asia into close conversation. This special concert will take place in the Frye Salon, activating the floor-to-ceiling installation of the museum’s founding-era collection and honoring the rich history of cross-disciplinary engagement initially established by Charles and Emma Frye, a legacy that continues to inspire the museum today.   

Join Artistic Director Gus Denhard for an evening of music and conversation exploring the remarkable journey of the lute. Revered across diverse cultural traditions, the lute has long symbolized the transformative power of music. Through live performances, the trio will highlight the unique musical traditions of their respective cultures, draw connections to the artwork in the Frye Salon, and debut original compositions created as a collaborative ensemble. Their dedication to artistic collaboration conveys a powerful message of unity and shared humanity.

Frye Museum - 704 Terry Ave, Seattle, WA 98104

March 21, 2025

Twelfth Night Ensemble

Handel’s Aminta e Fillide

7:30 PM

Nola Richardson, soprano and Xenia Puskarz Thomas, mezzo-soprano

Rachell Ellen Wong & David Belkovski, artistic directors

Twelfth Night, the refreshingly new ensemble of young stars directed by violinist Rachell Ellen Wong and keyboardist David Belkovski, offers a scintillating program featuring Handel’s Aminta e Fillide, a pastoral cantata. Aminta and Fillide, the cantata’s shepherd and nymph, pursue each other through a mythological Greek landscape in arias both virtuosic and poignant. To round out a captivating program, the group performs Vivaldi’s electric sinfonia from his opera, Il Giustino.

Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall - 200 University St, Seattle, WA 98101

March 22, 2025

Workshop With Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra

10:15 AM

In partnership with the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra

Kellogg Middle School - 16045 25th Ave NE, Shoreline, WA 98155

New Baroque Orchestra and Lindsey Strand-Polyak

2:00 PM

Don’t just attend concerts at the EMS Festival this weekend— come musick with us! Join Lindsey Strand-Polyak and the New Baroque Orchestra as we have a play-in! This event is open to all instrumentalists playing at A-415′: violin family, gambas, recorders, flutes, oboes, bassoons, frame drums, trumpets, harp, guitars, harpsichord, and beyond. If you can read the music, you can play the parts! A link to parts to practice in advance will be sent with Play-in registration in October. Refreshments will be served as we make new friends and keep on musicking. 

Trinity Episcopal Parish - 609 8th Ave Seattle, WA 98104

Lute Legends

Borderlands: Music on the Edge

7:30 PM

Featuring Ronnie Malley, Lucas Harris, and Wen Zhao, the Lute Legends Collective is a performing association of musicians who represent ancient plucked-string traditions. It’s certainly possible that some combinations of their instruments would have sounded together centuries ago, such as a pipa player jamming together with an oud player somewhere along the old Silk Road. However, the collective’s aim is less to recreate history and more to delight in creating a new arena where these old instruments can make music together.

Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall - 200 University St, Seattle, WA 98101

March 23, 2025

Nowruz at Seattle City Hall

In Collaboration with Peyvand NPO & Seattle-Isfahan Sister City Advocacy (SISCA)

Mesmerizing music, dances, art exhibitions, hands-on demos, children’s activities, and more!

12:00 PM

Early Music Seattle and Seattle-Isfahan Sister City Advocacy (SISCA) are thrilled to announce a collaborative celebration of the ancient Persian festival of Nowruz on Sunday, March 23, 2025. SISCA will kick off the day’s events at Seattle City Hall with its 5th Annual Nowruz Celebration, a free, family-friendly festival from 12:00 to 5:00 PM supported by funding from the City of Seattle’s Neighborhood Matching Fund. The celebratory spirit will continue at Seattle’s Town Hall from 5:00 PM with Nowruz displays from SISCA ahead of Early Music Seattle’s featured performance by the Afro-Persian group, The Siriya Ensemble taking the stage at 7:30 PM.

City Hall - 600 4th Ave, Seattle, WA 98104

The Siriya Ensemble

Nowruz Celebration – Persian New Year

7:30 PM

In Collaboration with Peyvand NPO & Seattle-Isfahan Sister City Advocacy (SISCA)

Afro-Persian group, The Siriya Ensemble, is a band from Bushehr, in the south of Iran. It was formed in 2016 by local musicians from Bushehr who focused on incorporating traditional southern Iranian music into their performances. Being close to the Persian gulf, Southern Iranian music is influenced by African music.

Over time, the group evolved and went through changes, particularly around 2017, when new members such as Mohammad Laryan, Behrouz Sharifian, and Mehdi Monfared joined the ensemble. This marked a turning point for them as they began to develop a distinctive style that blended folk and contemporary music elements, creating a unique fusion that reflects the rich cultural heritage of Bushehr.

Their most notable album: A Table for Two, won the Silver Medal at the Global Music Awards. It includes a compilation of Afro-Persian folk music with contributions from various members of the group.

Town Hall Seattle - 1119 8th Ave, Seattle, WA 98101

Finale Festival Pass

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Date: March 12 - 23, 2025

Venues

Town Hall Seattle - 1119 8th Ave, Seattle, WA 98101

Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall - 200 University St, Seattle, WA 98101

Raisbeck Auditorium - 2017 Boren Ave, Seattle, WA 98121

Trinity Episcopal Parish - 609 8th Ave, Seattle, WA 98104

Good Shepherd Center - 4649 Sunnyside Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103

Epiphany Parish - 1805 38th Ave, Seattle, WA 98122

Frye Museum - 704 Terry Ave, Seattle, WA 98104

ArtX Contemporary - 512 1st Ave S, Seattle, Washington 98104

Bainbridge Island Museum of Art - 550 Winslow Way E, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110

Kellogg Middle School - 16045 25th Ave NE, Shoreline, WA 98155

Aki Kurose Middle School - 3928 S Graham St, Seattle, WA 98118

Seattle City Hall - 600 4th Ave, Seattle, WA 98104

CASA Latina - 317 17th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98144

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