Early Music America

Early Music America
Name	Early Music America
Type	Nonprofit organization
Founded	1975
Headquarters	United States
Focus	Historical performance practice, period instruments, scholarship

Early Music America is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the performance, study, and appreciation of historical music performed on period instruments and in historically informed styles. It serves as a nexus for performers, instrument makers, scholars, presenters, and audiences associated with Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, and early Romantic repertoires. The organization fosters connections among practitioners through publications, conferences, grants, and partnerships with conservatories, museums, libraries, and ensembles.

History

Founded in 1975, the organization emerged alongside the revival movements led by figures such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Gustav Leonhardt, Christopher Hogwood, Martha Bower, and Niklaus Leuenberger. Early activity intersected with ensembles and institutions including The Academy of Ancient Music, The English Concert, Les Arts Florissants, The Consort of Musicke, Concentus Musicus Wien, The Tallis Scholars, Bach Collegium Japan, and Dartmouth College departments engaged with historical performance. The 1980s and 1990s saw expansion through collaborations with presenters like Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, and museums such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The British Museum. Influences from scholars and performers—Alan Curtis, John Eliot Gardiner, Ton Koopman, Paul McCreesh, William Christie, Hélène Grimaud, and Simon Standage—shaped programming, pedagogy, and instrument-making networks. The organization adapted to changes in funding landscapes exemplified by interactions with foundations such as the National Endowment for the Arts, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and Graham Foundation, while engaging libraries like the Library of Congress, British Library, and archives at Harvard University.

Mission and Activities

The mission centers on preservation and dissemination of repertoire spanning Medieval music, Renaissance music, Baroque music, Classical-era and early Romantic works, advocating historically informed performance as practiced by ensembles such as Juilliard415, Tafelmusik, Apollo's Fire, Auditorium du Louvre groups, and university programs at Yale School of Music, Juilliard School, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Royal College of Music, and Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Activities include advocacy for period instrument makers linked to workshops like those of Rudolf Tutz, Hermann Hauser, George Lowinsky, and luthiers associated with the Viola da gamba revival. Partnerships extend to conservatories, arts presenters including Boston Symphony Orchestra historically informed projects, and international bodies like Europa Cantat, International Musicological Society, and Intermusica agents.

Programs and Publications

Programs encompass training initiatives, mentorship schemes, and archival projects in collaboration with institutions such as Smithsonian Institution, Getty Research Institute, Newberry Library, Royal Library of Belgium, and university presses like Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, University of Chicago Press, and Princeton University Press. Publications have included newsletters, journals, and monographs spotlighting performers like Rachel Podger, Fabio Biondi, Christina Pluhar, Mahan Esfahani, and scholars such as Suzannah Clark, John Butt, Bruce Haynes, Margaret Bent, and John Milsom. The organization curates bibliographies, discographies, and resource guides referencing labels and producers including Deutsche Grammophon, Harmonia Mundi, Archiv Produktion, Linn Records, and Glossa Music.

Conferences and Festivals

Annual and biennial conferences convene presenters, ensembles, instrument makers, scholars, and students at venues such as Tanglewood, Carnegie Hall(Weill Recital Hall), The Cloisters, Royal Opera House, and university campuses including Indiana University, Yale University, and University of Oxford. Festivals and affiliated gatherings feature ensembles like Les Arts Florissants, Balthasar Neumann Choir and Ensemble, Ensemble Pygmalion, La Petite Bande, Il Giardino Armonico, and soloists such as Gaultier Capuçon and András Schiff when performing historically informed repertoire. The conferences address topics intersecting with research from organizations like Royal Musical Association, Society for Musicology in Ireland, American Musicological Society, Early Keyboard Journal contributors, and technical specialists from instrument museums and collections.

Awards and Grants

Grant programs support performance projects, research, recordings, and commissioning of new work in historically informed styles, often coordinating with funders like the National Endowment for the Arts, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Kronos Performing Arts Association, and regional arts councils. Awards recognize achievements of ensembles and individuals such as The Academy of Ancient Music, Concerto Köln, Gramophone Award nominees, and distinguished scholars including Edward Higginbottom, Susan McClary, and Philip Brett. Specific grants have enabled recordings on labels including Signum Classics, Naxos, and scholarly editions published by Bärenreiter, Henle Verlag, and Breitkopf & Härtel.

Organizational Structure and Membership

Governance is typically via a board of directors and executive staff collaborating with advisory councils composed of performers, luthiers, scholars, and presenters associated with institutions like Royal Academy of Music, Conservatoire de Paris, Berlin University of the Arts, and Sibelius Academy. Membership categories serve individual practitioners, ensembles, makers, presenters, and institutional archives, drawing members from groups such as The English Concert, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Apollo's Fire, The Sixteen, and educational programs at Royal Conservatoire of The Hague. The organization maintains committees for programming, grants, publications, and outreach, coordinating with networks like World Baroque Association, European Early Music Network, and national arts councils to support conservation, performance, and scholarship.

Category:Music organizations Category:Early music