Music Festival is a pillar in the early music community known for excellence in performance and academia. The honor of Emerging Ensemble validates Williamsburg Baroque as creating important input in both performance and research.
     "Williamsburg can take justifiable pride in its resident Baroque ensemble which is now becoming well known in national music circles," said Williamsburg Baroque member Sophie Genevieve Lowe who plays Baroque violin in the ensemble. "One of the key aspects that sets us apart from other historical ensembles in the U.S. is the historical continuation of public concerts. Peter Pelham, who was the first organist at historic Bruton Parish Episcopal Church in Williamsburg, produced one of the first public concerts in Williamsburg in the early 1700s, providing colonists with the chance to hear music from Europe. Williamsburg Baroque performs at Bruton Parish to carry on this tradition." In addition to performing well-known pieces, Williamsburg Baroque includes in its performances rare gems that have few or no recordings available.
      On Saturday, June 20, at 7 p.m. at Bruton Parish Episcopal Church, Williamsburg Baroque will present a concert of the music that earned the group its Emerging Ensemble status.  Entitled "1776:  Deplorable Barbarism & Delightful Recreation," the program includes a wide range of music from America’s first chamber music composer John Antes, to arrangements by Peter Pelham, to what may be the first recordings by the composers Jean Gehot and John Christopher Moller. It also will feature Johann Christian Bach's seldom-performed “Die Amerikanerin” (the American Girl),  published in 1776 likely as a nod to the American colonies declaring independence from Britain.  The group will also perform a short but delightful piece by Occramer Marycoo, a former slave who gained his freedom, which may be the first published piece by a black composer in Colonial America.
      In addition to Ms. Lowe, Williamsburg Baroque's principal players include Baroque cellist Ryan Lowe and organist and harpsichordist Rebecca Davy, director of music at Bruton Parish. Additional regularly appearing members include Baroque violinist Susannah Livingston and Baroque violist Jane Lenz. The concert on June 20 will also feature soprano Margot Rood, whose voice the Washington Post has praised as "sterling" and having "gleaming tone and magnificent control," and bassist Seth Edwards.

      "We invite everyone who wishes to observe America's 250th anniversary to join us for this uniquely American concert in one of America's most historic places," said Lowe.

      For information and tickets, visit www.williamsburgbaroque.org.

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