Highly regarded among Chicago’s classical treasures, Music of the Baroque and Dame Jane Glover summon the full power of orchestra and chorus in a program of 18th-century grandeur. Hailed by Third Coast Review as “a once-in-a-lifetime musical experience,” the ensemble brings Handel’s jubilant Music for the Royal Fireworks and majestic Coronation Anthems together with Haydn’s vibrant First Cello Concerto, performed by celebrated British cellist Steven Isserlis.
One of the Chicago area’s leading classical ensembles, Music of the Baroque draws audiences from across the region with performances at the Harris Theater in Millennium Park, the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, and a range of intimate churches and neighborhood venues throughout the city and suburbs. The “sparkling and verveful” (Chicago Sun-Times) ensemble strives to make music from the 17th and 18th centuries accessible for all, bringing new energy and fresh perspectives to the major choral and orchestral works of J. S. Bach and Handel, Mozart, and Haydn.
They are joined by Steven Isserlis, CBE, whose international career spans solo performance, chamber music, writing, broadcasting, and teaching. Equally at home in repertoire from the baroque era to the present day, Isserlis appears with many of the world’s leading orchestras and period ensembles and has premiered works by composers including Sir John Tavener, Thomas Adès, György Kurtág, Heinz Holliger, Jörg Widmann, Olli Mustonen, and Mikhail Pletnev.
