The Boston Early Music Festival (BEMF) is universally recognized as a leader in the field of early music. Since its founding in 1980 by leading practitioners of historical performance in the United States and abroad, BEMF has promoted early music through a variety of diverse programs and activities, including an annual concert series that brings the early music’s brightest stars to the Boston concert stage, and the biennial week-long Festival and Exhibition recognized as the “world’s leading festival of early music” (The Times, London). Most recently, BEMF initiated a project to record some of its groundbreaking work in the field of Baroque opera. BEMF has released two recordings thus far—Conradi’s Ariadne and Lully’s Thésée—each of which earned a Grammy Nomination for Best Opera Recording. The third CD featuring Lully’s Psyché will be released in May 2008. Through its programs BEMF has earned its place as North America’s premier presenting organization for conservators and performers of music of the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods and has secured Boston’s reputation as “America’s early music capital” (The Boston Globe).

International Baroque Opera
One of BEMF’s main goals is to unearth and present lesser-known Baroque operas performed by the world’s leading musicians armed with the latest information on period singing, orchestral performance, costuming, and staging. Year after year, BEMF has thrilled audiences with the modern débuts of such gems as Cavalli’s Ercole Amante (1999), Lully’s Thésée (2001), Conradi’s Ariadne (2003), and the fully-staged world premiere of Johann Mattheson’s Boris Goudenow (2005). BEMF operas reproduce the Baroque’s stunning palette of sound by bringing together today’s leading operatic superstars and a wealth of instrumental talent from across the globe to one stage for historic presentations, all zestfully led from the pit by the BEMF Artistic Co-Directors Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs, and creatively re-imagined for the stage by BEMF Stage Director in Residence, Gilbert Blin.

Celebrated Concerts
Some of the most magical musical moments at the biennial Festival occur during one of the dozen or more concerts presented round the clock by a remarkable array of established luminaries and rising superstars in the field of early music worldwide. The concert artists and programs illuminate the Festival’s theme to give audiences a thorough and well-rounded understanding of the style, history, and depth of the chosen topic, such as 2005’s East Meets West: Germany, Russia and the Baltic States, which featured performances of Dutch sea shanties by Camerata Trajectina; Austrian, German, and Russian music for pianoforte by Kristian Bezuidenhout; songs of the Rhineland by Sequentia; Russian gypsy music by TALISMAN; and Slovakian folk dances by Solamente Naturali. BEMF concerts also allow for unique, once-in-a-lifetime collaborations and programs by the spectacular array of talent assembled for the Festival week’s events. In 1987, inspired by the success of the Festival concerts, BEMF introduced an annual concert series to meet the increasing demand for year-round performances by an international array of the world’s most accomplished artists. BEMF’s annual season now sets the bar nationally for early music performance and features such luminaries as The Tallis Scholars, Jordi Savall and Hespèrion XXI, and Les Arts Florissants (whose performance of Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit pour Noël was selected Boston Magazine’s Best of Boston for Classical Music Concert in 2001-2002) as well as the North American débuts of Bach Collegium Japan, Netherlands Bach Society, and Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.

World-famous Exhibition
The nerve center of the biennial Festival, the Exhibition is the largest event of its kind, showcasing over one hundred early instrument makers, music publishers, performers, service organizations, schools and universities, and related colleagues. Every other summer, hundreds of professional musicians, students, and enthusiasts come from around the world to purchase instruments, re-stock their libraries, learn about recent musicological developments, and renew old friendships amidst the exciting hustle and bustle of the BEMF Exhibition. Alongside the Exhibition are dozens of symposia, masterclasses, and demonstration recitals to encourage a deeper appreciation of early music and strengthen relationships between musicians, participants, and audiences.