After 16 years without a period-instrument orchestra, Chicagoans once again have the opportunity to hear music of Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, and many other great baroque and classical composers performed on original instruments. Baroque Band, the citys newly founded resident period-instrument orchestra, was incorporated in January 2007 and received its non-profit 501(c)(3) status in June 2007. In May 2007, Baroque Band gave three debut performances and the program clearly was to everyone's liking, judging from the thunderous ovations that greeted the performers.The group, directed from the violin by the group's British founder and concertmaster, Garry Clarke, has all the right stuff to fill the yawning void created by the demise of The City Musick in 1991. It is doing so with an abundance of style, a crisp esprit de corps and a palpable affection for its repertory (John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune, May 29, 2007). Baroque Band comprises string instruments (violins, violas, cellos and contrabasses) that are distinguished from their modern counterparts by animal gut strings, shorter fingerboards, and shorter, convex bows; baroque oboes and bassoons, which have fewer keys than modern instruments; natural trumpets and horns, which have no valves; wooden flutes; and a harpsichord. In the summer of 2006, British baroque violinist Garry Clarke moved to Chicago. As an internationally known period-instrument specialist, Clarke had toured to Chicago on several occasions with European orchestras but when he moved to the city he was astonished to discover that it was lacking a period-instrument orchestra. After months of research and working with Chicago-based, period-instrument players, Clarke concluded that the audience and support for a period-instrument orchestra in Chicago was considerable. In order to achieve its mission, Baroque Band has assembled a strong advisory board of leading artistic personnel and arts managers. The full board, now in formation, is being further developed through the selection of key personnel from business and education sectors of the community in order to maximize the organizations artistic, educational, fundraising, and management potential. Baroque Band has already received a Community Arts Assistance Program grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural affairs for support of its 501(c)3 application, and it has raised $10,000 in individual donations and received corporate pledges of $10,000. The orchestra has an inaugural year operating budget of $125,000. Like every start-up group, Baroque Band is beholden to the kindness of strangers. If it is to grow and prosper and make good on its goal to become Chicago's answer to the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra of Berkeley, Calif., it will need the community's generous support. Meanwhile, Clarke and friends are off to a fine start, and I very much look forward to their packed 2007-08 concert season (John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune).

To present the highest quality performances of music from the baroque era using period instruments and historically informed performance techniques To inform and educate the Chicago and the American public about music from the baroque era To provide opportunities for students and musicians of all levels and ages to gain hands-on experience with period instruments and techniques To serve as musical ambassadors for the City of Chicago

Baroque Bands inaugural 2007 08 season begins on October 10, 2007 at Chicagos Symphony Center. The program Bach! The Brandenburg Project also marks the start of a three-year project to perform and record all six of Bachs Brandenburg concertos. The Symphony Center concert and performances at the Music Institute of Chicago in Evanston (October 11) and at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel in Hyde Park (October 12) feature Bachs Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 and No. 6 plus the highly innovative and humorous Batallia by Henrich Biber. Baroque Bands concert series continues with nine additional performances three programs, each presented downtown at Symphony Center, at the Music Institute of Chicago in Evanston and at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel in Hyde Park. At the December performances Baroque Band will be joined by internationally reknowned soprano soloist, Jennifer Ellis. Chicagos own baroque flautist Anita Reider will perform Vivaldis The Goldfinch concerto and Bachs Orchestral Suite No. 2 at Baroque Bands final program of the inaugural season in June 2008. In addition to its own series, Baroque Band has been invited to perform at Byron Colby Barn in Grayslake, at Illinois College in Jacksonville, and in the Chicago Cultural Centers Sunday Salon Series. Baroque Bands schedule for October 2007 to June 2008 currently includes 18 performances throughout the greater metropolitan Chicago area. (Please below for a complete list of concerts.) Baroque Band is developing a strong educational component to its programming to fulfill its mission. It has recently been named Ensemble-in-Residence at the Music Institute of Chicago (MIC). In addition to presenting all its own concert programs at the Institutes Nichols Hall in Evanston, Baroque Band will run a baroque music academy at the Evanston campus in June 2008. Several Baroque Band musicians will also teach at the MIC and develop ongoing educational programs there, including a student baroque ensemble, a viol consort, and individual lessons. Baroque Band musicians have also been appointed to serve on the MICs Organ and Early Music Committee, which oversees the Institutes Early Music Department. Baroque Band has also been named Artistic Partner of the University of Chicagos Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. As such, the Band will rehearse and perform with the Chapel Choir and Motet Choir in several concerts and will perform at music vesper services on special occasions. Baroque Bands own concert series will be presented in Rockefeller Chapel and the two organizations will collaborate on audience development and additional performances on the south side of Chicago. Recording Baroque Band will enhance its mission of presenting the highest quality performances of baroque and classical music by releasing four recordings over four years. This will include Tomaso Albinonis Concerto e sinfonia a cinque (2007/08 - world premiere recording on period instruments.), Bachs Brandenburg Concertos (2009/10), and Bachs Four Orchestral Suites (2010/11) Concert Schedule October 10,11,12 Bach! The Brandenburg Project; December 2 Christmas Vespers; Rockefeller Chapel December 12,15,17 Rantings of a Mad Queen; February 17 Chicago Cultural Center; Sunday Salon Series February 24 Byron Colby Barn March 22,25,26,28 An Evening at Londons 18th Century Vauxhall Gardens; May 16,17 Handels Solomon June 4,5,7 The Beguiling Flute June 20-22 Baroque Academy; Music Institute of Chicago, Evanston