Welcome to the June 2023 Boston Early Music Festival, North America’s premier celebration of Early Music.

After the success of our 2021 Virtual Festival, we are thrilled to return in person for our 2023 Festival and Exhibition— A Celebration of Women—June 4 to 11.

We have planned a spectacular array of events honoring the work of women, both current and past, that will illuminate the integral role that women have always played in great classical music.

Subscription packages and individual tickets are on sale now! Select four or more events of YOUR CHOICE and save 10% or GET IT ALL and save 20%!

To best protect the most vulnerable members of our community and those artists who cannot mask while performing, we are requiring guests to wear well-fitted face masks at all in-door events at the 2023 Festival. Please visit BEMF.org/safety to review our current policies. We thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Schedule :

June 4, 2023

 

2:00pm

PRE-OPERA TALK

The Power of Enchantment: Circé, Desmarest, Saintonge
Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs, Musical Directors; Gilbert Blin, Stage Director and Set Designer; Robert Mealy, Orchestra Director; Melinda Sullivan, Dance Director
Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre

3:10pm

OPENING FANFARE

Desmarest's Circé
Members of the BEMF Orchestra
Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre

3:30pm

CENTERPIECE OPERA

Desmarest's Circé
Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre

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June 5, 2023

7:00pm

PRE-CONCERT TALK

New Beginnings, Old Favorites: Circé’s Prologue and Almira’s Arias, New England

Robert Mealy, Orchestra Director

New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall

8:00pm

CONCERT

Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra & Chorus

Paul O’Dette & Stephen Stubbs, Musical Directors

Robert Mealy, Orchestra Director

A Grand Celebration: Music from Desmarest’s Circé and Handel’s Almira

New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall

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10:30pm

CONCERT

Maxine Eilander, harp & Tekla Cunningham, violin

The Mysterious Zoé de la Ruë

New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall

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June 6, 2023

5pm

CONCERT

Les Délices

Debra Nagy, Director

Woman Scorned: Circé, Phèdre, and Armide

New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall

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8pm

CONCERT

Vox Luminis

Lionel Meunier, Director

The Virgin Mary: Stabat Mater

New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall

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10:30pm

CONCERT

La Donna Musicale & Rumbarroco

Laury Gutiérrez, Director

Nigra sum sed formosa: Morenas in Iberoamerica

New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall

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June 7, 2023

10am–5pm 

Exhibition

Courtyard Marriott Boston Downtown - Empire Ballroom & the 5th Floor Conference Suite

11am–12:30pm

SYMPOSIUM

Taking Action in Changing Times: A Conversation

Moderated by Debra Nagy, Founder and Director of Les Délices

Wilbur/Colonial Ballroom, Courtyard Marriott Boston Downtown

1pm

CONCERT & LECTURE

Cappella Clausura Celebrates Boston Women’s Memorial directed by Amelia LeClair, with Meredith Bergmann, Sculptor, and Susan Wilson, House Historian of the Omni Parker House

Commonwealth Mall (outside)/corner of Gloucester Street and Commonwealth Avenue, Back Bay

2pm–4pm

MASTERCLASS

Tekla Cunningham and Cynthia Roberts, violin
Library, Courtyard Marriott Boston Downtown

1pm

LECTURE-WORKSHOP

Ricercar una Fantasia: Improvising counterpoint on lute and related instruments in the Renaissance

Presented by Bor Zuljan, archlute

The College Club of Boston, 44 Commonwealth Avenue

5pm 

CONCERT

The Newberry Consort

Liza Malamut, Artistic Director

Ellen Hargis, Guest Director

The Juan de Lienas Vespers

Emmanuel Church

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5:30pm

PRE-OPERA TALK

Operatic sorceresses: heroines or villains?

Professor Rebecca Harris-Warrick

Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre

6:40pm

OPENING FANFARE | Desmarest's Circé

Members of the BEMF Orchestra

Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre

7pm 

OPERA , Desmarest's Circé

Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre

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8pm 

CONCERT

The Orlando Consort

Voices Appeared: A live soundtrack to accompany the 1928 film La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc

New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall

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10:30pm

CONCERT

Sollazzo Ensemble

Anna Danilevskaia, Director

Le corps s’en va, le coeur demeure: The Leuven Chansonnier

New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall

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June 8, 2023

9:30am–11am

DANCE WORKSHOP

Session One: An exploration of gavotte and hemiola rhythms to create comic effect
Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière, Circé Co-Choreographer
Emmanuel Church Music Room (ECMR), 15 Newbury Street

10am–5pm 

Exhibition

Courtyard Marriott Boston Downtown
(Empire Ballroom & the 5th Floor Conference Suite)

10am

Organ & Keyboard Mini-Festival

Part One: Carole Cerasi, clavichord
The First Lutheran Church of Boston

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1pm

LECTURE

Consider the Source: Reconstructing the Lienas Vespers
Ellen Hargis, Director Emerita of The Newberry Consort
Wilbur/Colonial Ballroom, Courtyard Marriott Boston Downtown

11:30am–1pm 

DANCE WORKSHOP

Session Two: Baroque dance: from walking steps to complex dances and from codified movements to expressive interpretation
Pierre-François Dollé, Circé Co-Choreographer
Emmanuel Church Music Room (ECMR), 15 Newbury Street

11:30am 

Organ & Keyboard Mini-Festival

Part Two: Francesco Corti, harpsichord
The First Lutheran Church of Boston

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1:30pm 

Organ & Keyboard Mini-Festival

Part Three: Stefania Neonato, fortepiano
The First Lutheran Church of Boston

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2pm–4pm

MASTERCLASS

Philippe Pierlot, viola da gamba
Library, Courtyard Marriott Boston Downtown

3pm 

Organ & Keyboard Mini-Festival

Part Four: Christa Rakich, organ
The First Lutheran Church of Boston

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5pm 

CONCERT

Doulce Mémoire
Denis Raisin Dadre, Director
The Century of Titian: Music of the Italian Renaissance
New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall

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7pm

PRE-CONCERT TALK

Portraits of Celestial Women by Handel and Bach
Professor Ellen T. Harris
New England Conservatory’s Williams Hall, 30 Gainsborough Street

8pm 

CONCERT

BEMF Orchestra & Vox Luminis
Robert Mealy, Orchestra Director
Lioniel Meunier, Vox Luminis Artistic Director
From Heavenly Harmony: Handel’s Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day and Bach’s Magnificat
New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall

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10:30pm 

CONCERT

Hamburger Ratsmusik & Dorothee Mields, soprano
Barbara Strozzi: La Virtuosissima Cantatrice
New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall

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June 9, 2023

10am–1pm 

SYMPOSIUM

Women at Work: Composers, Musicians, and Scholars
Moderated by Professor Ellen T. Harris, co-organized by Professor Claire Fontijn
Wilbur/Colonial Ballroom, Courtyard Marriott Boston Downtown

10am–5pm

Exhibition

Courtyard Marriott Boston Downtown
(Empire Ballroom & the 5th Floor Conference Suite)

1:30pm

PRE-CONCERT TALK

Thwarted Constancy: La Guerre’s Cephale et Procris
Professor Claire Fontijn
New England Conservatory's Williams Hall

2pm–4pm

MASTERCLASS

Session One: Francesco Corti, harpsichord
Library, Courtyard Marriott Boston Downtown

2:30pm 

SPECIAL CONCERT

BEMF 2023 Young Artists Training Program participants
Gilbert Blin, Founder & Director; Jason McStoots, Associate Director, 2023; Jeffrey Grossman, Musical Director, 2023
Cephale et Procris by Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre
New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall

Free Concert

5pm 

CONCERT

Tiburtina Ensemble
Barbora Kabátková, Artistic Director
Ego sum ****: Musical visions of Hildegard von Bingen
Emmanuel Church

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5:30pm 

PRE-OPERA TALK

Designing an opera in the shadow of Lully and Quinault
Benoît Dratwicki, Artistic Director of the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles
Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre

6:40pm 

OPENING FANFARE | Desmarest's Circé

Members of the BEMF Orchestra
Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre

7pm 

OPERA | Desmarest's Circé

Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre

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8pm 

CONCERT

Stile Antico
Breaking the Habit: Music for and by Renaissance women
Emmanuel Church

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10:30pm 

CONCERT

Ricercar Consort
Philippe Pierlot, Director
Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe et ses filles
Emmanuel Church

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June 10, 2023

10am–12:30pm

BEMF SYMPOSIUM

Producing and Performing Henry Desmarest’s Circé
Moderated by Benoît Dratwicki, with Paul O’Dette, Stephen Stubbs, Gilbert Blin, Robert Mealy, Melinda Sullivan, Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière, Pierre-François Dollé, Jérôme Kaplan, and Jean Duron
Wilbur/Colonial Ballroom, Courtyard Marriott Boston Downtown

10am–5pm

Exhibition

Courtyard Marriott Boston Downtown
(Empire Ballroom & the 5th Floor Conference Suite)

1pm–2pm

CONCERT & LECTURE

Discovering Adriana vanden Bergh
Erik Bosgraaf
Library, Courtyard Marriott Boston Downtown

1:30pm–4:30pm 

MASTERCLASS

Ellen Hargis, Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière, Paul O’Dette, and Stephen Stubbs: 17th-century accompanied solo song
New England Conservatory's Burns Hall

2pm–4pm 

FAMILY DAY

Part One at 2pm, Circle dances for the family: Arbeau’s branles, pavane, and galliard
Caitlin Klinger and Julian Donahue, BEMF Dance Company
Wilbur/Colonial Ballroom, Courtyard Marriott Boston Downtown
Part Two at 3pm, Scavenger Hunt at the World-Famous BEMF Exhibition
Courtyard Marriott Boston Downtown

2:30pm–4:30pm 

MASTERCLASS

Session Two: Francesco Corti, harpsichord
Library, Courtyard Marriott Boston Downtown

3:30pm–4:30pm 

LECTURE

The Fashioning of French Opera (1672–1791): Identity, Production, Networks (Brepols, 2023), edited by Barbara Nestola, Benoît Dratwicki, Julien Dubruque, and Thomas Leconte
Benoît Dratwicki, Artistic Director of the CMBV, and Barbara Nestola, Director of Research of the CMBVWilbur/Colonial Ballroom, Courtyard Marriott Boston Downtown

5pm 

CONCERT

ACRONYM
Queen Christina’s Playlist: Music of Corelli, Alessandro Scarlatti, Cavalli, and others
New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall

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7pm

PRE-OPERA TALK

Of Enchantment and Liberations: Francesca Caccini’s Alcina
Professor Suzanne G. Cusick
New England Conservatory's Williams Hall

8pm

CHAMBER OPERA

Francesca Caccini's Alcina
New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall

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10:30pm

CONCERT

Amanda Forsythe, Dorothee Mields & Cecilia Duarte
with Boston Early Music Festival Continuo Ensemble
Paul O’Dette & Stephen Stubbs, Musical Directors
The Three Sopranos: Earthly Delights for Angelic Voices
New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall

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June 11, 2023

10am—11am 

CONCERT

BEMF Beyond Borders 2023
Nina Stern, BEMF Director of Community Engagement
New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall

Free Concert

12:30pm

CONCERT

Erik Bosgraaf, recorder & Francesco Corti, harpsichord
A Tribute to Anne, the Princess Royal and Handel’s favorite pupil
New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall

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2pm 

PRE-OPERA TALK

Operatic sorceresses: heroines or villains?
Professor Rebecca Harris-Warrick
Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre

3:10pm

OPENING FANFARE, Desmarest's Circé

Members of the BEMF Orchestra
Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre

3:30pm

OPERA, Desmarest's Circé

Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre

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Location: Various Venue

Date: June 4, 2023 - June 11, 2023

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