Baroque Northwest
was formed in 1993 as Benevolent Order for Music of the Baroque,
the group is now known as Baroque Northwest
and is made up of people who share the same dedicated and
progressive attitude towards performing music from the Medieval,
Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, early Romantic, and Modern eras.
We challenge and question the
traditional canon of what historical performance practice
should be, as well as the traditional concept of what a concert
should be. We have fun with our concerts while never violating
the integrity of the music (we show respect for the dead).
We make our programs accessible to the general public while
keeping them stimulating to our regular audience of early music
aficionados. While some early music ensembles chose to perform
in costumes, we perform in modern clothes because
we believe ancient music is for modern people. Our programs are
given in a traditional classical music setting but we often
speak directly and informally to the audience, sharing interesting
and amusing anecdotes about the music and composers, and we have
been known to encourage audience participation. Since the
2003-04 season we have been expanding our musical horizons
with cross-genre concerts with different groups who play
traditional music from around the world. The concerts are an
opportunity to make historical connections between different
peoples and musics. We also premier pieces written just for us.
We've been featured on the NPR syndicated
program
Harmonia, performed at Seattle's
Bumbershoot Festival,
the Boston and Bloomington early music festivals, and given
concerts in Israel, California, and the Midwest. We are a
graduate of the Professional Affiliate program
of the Early Music
Guild. We've been part of the Washington State Arts
Commission Arts In Education Program, with tours and
residencies at schools in rural Washington. Our programs include
everything from intimate chamber music, orchestral music with
concerto soloists, sacred and secular music for chorus and
orchestra, vocal a capella concerts, and staged baroque
opera productions. We love music of all types and enjoy sharing it.
Our Mission is to provide exceptional performances and programs of Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Modern, and
Traditional music to as many and diverse audiences as possible, through public concerts and educational outreach.
1997-98 • 1998-99 • 1999-2000 •
2000-01 • 2001-02 • 2002-03 •
2003-04 • 2004-05 •
2005-06 • 2006-07 • 2007-08 • 2008-09 •
2009-10 • 2010-11 • 2011-12