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Artistic Highlights

1973
  • Boston Baroque is founded by Martin Pearlman under the ensemble’s original name, “Banchetto Musicale” — the first permanent Baroque orchestra in North America.
  • The ensemble launches its annual Greater Boston concert series.
1974–1980
  • Boston Baroque presents Boston’s first professional period-instrument performances of major Baroque and Classical repertoire from Monteverdi to Mozart.
  • Boston Baroque helps to develop the first generation of American period-instrument performers.
1981
  • The Boston Baroque professional chamber chorus is established as an integral part of the ensemble — a first among American period-instrument groups.
  • Boston Baroque presents Boston’s period-instrument premieres of Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s B Minor Mass, and Monteverdi’s Coronation of Poppea, in a new performing version by Martin Pearlman.
1983
  • American premiere of Rameau’s opera Zoroastre.
1984
  • Boston’s period premiere of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion.
1984–1985
  • Boston Baroque’s interpretation of Handel’s Messiah is acclaimed at Carnegie Hall.
  • Bach’s Tercentenary marked by Boston’s first period-instrument performances of the complete concertos of J.S. Bach.
1986
  • American period-instrument premiere of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, broadcast nationally on public radio.
1987–1988
  • American period-instrument premieres of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony and Violin Concerto.
1989
  • American period-instrument premiere of Mozart’s The Magic Flute.
  • Boston’s period-instrument premiere of Haydn’s The Creation.
1992
  • In its first commitment to period instruments, Telarc International signs Boston Baroque to produce a series of recordings of major Baroque and Classical repertoire for international commercial distribution.
  • Telarc releases Boston Baroque’s recording of Handel’s Concerti grossi. Op. 6, Nos. 1–6.
  • Telarc releases Handel’s Messiah.
  • Messiah is nominated for a Grammy Award for “Best Choral Performance.”
1993–1994
  • Telarc releases Boston Baroque’s recording of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos.
1995
  • Telarc releases Boston Baroque’s recording of the Mozart Requiem, in a new completion by Robert Levin, named one of the three most important classical CDs of the year by CD Review.
1995–1996
  • Midwest debut: Five performances of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, in Chicago and Ann Arbor, in collaboration with the Mark Morris Dance Group.
1996–1997
  • Boston Baroque records Monteverdi’s monumental Vespers of 1610.
  • Telarc releases Boston Baroque’s recording of Dido and Aeneas.
1997–1998
  • CLASSIC CD names Boston Baroque’s 1992 release “The Number One Recording of Handel’s Messiah.”
  • Boston Baroque performs and records “Lost Music of Early America: Music of the Moravians,” introducing some of the most artistically significant music composed and performed in 18th century America.
1998–1999
  • Boston Baroque’s recording of the Monteverdi Vespers of 1610 is nominated for a Grammy Award as “Best Performance of a Choral Work.”
  • Boston Baroque marks its 25th Anniversary with an event of international musical significance: the modern-day world premiere of The Philosopher’s Stone, an opera newly-discovered to include music by Mozart and to shed light on his canon.
1999–2000
  • The Philosopher’s Stone recording is featured on the cover of the September/October issue of Fanfare.
  • The Philosopher’s Stone is Editor’s Choice, September 1999 issue of Opera News.
  • Boston Baroque presents Boston’s first performances in fifty years of Gluck’s masterpiece Iphigénie en Tauride, featuring soprano Christine Goerke in the title role. Iphigénie will become the ensemble’s 11th recording with Telarc.
  • Martin Pearlman and Boston Baroque return to the repertoire of Beethoven, for the first time in ten years, performing the Seventh Symphony.
2000–2001  
  • Boston Baroque receives its third Grammy nomination, for the recording of J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor.
  • BB launches Boston’s first cycle of the surviving Monteverdi operas with The Coronation of Poppea, in a new performing version by Martin Pearlman.
  • BB continues its Beethoven series with its first performances of the Eroica Symphony.
2001–2002
  • Boston Baroque opens its subscription season with a semi-staged production of L’Orfeo, Part Two in its landmark 3-year series of the surviving Monteverdi operas.
  • BB presents the Boston premiere of a newly discovered “Gloria” by Handel.
  • Jacques Zoon — internationally acclaimed flutist and BSO principal — makes his period flute debut in Mozart’s D major concerto.
2002–2003
  • Boston Baroque completes its 3-year cycle of the Monteverdi operas with two performances of  The Return of Ulysses in a new performing version by Martin Pearlman.
  • Boston Baroque makes its European debut, performing Handel’s Messiah to sold-out crowds and standing ovations in Krakow and Warsaw, Poland.
  • Boston Baroque continues its series of “revelatory” performances (Boston Globe) of the Beethoven symphonies, with Nos. 1 and 2.
  • Telarc releases BB’s 13th recording — and the first to be released simultaneously in CD and SACD formats — Handel’s Water Music and Royal Fireworks Music.
2003–2004
  • Boston Baroque presents Boston’s first performances of Handel’s Alcina.
  • Telarc releases BB’s 14th recording—the complete Bach orchestral suites.
  • Boston Baroque celebrates its 30th anniversary with a tour of the Monteverdi Vespers to three major American venues:  Disney Hall in Los Angeles, and the summer music festivals at Ravinia and Tanglewood.
2004–2005
  • Boston Baroque opens the season with the second opera in its Handel series: Giulio Cesare.
  • Telarc releases Boston Baroque’s 15th recording — Mozart’s “Jupiter” symphony and the two flute concertos featuring Jacques Zoon.
  • Boston Baroque continues its exploration of the Beethoven symphonies with No. 4 and No. 6 (Pastoral).
  • Boston Baroque presents the fully staged regional premiere of Gluck’s Alceste in collaboration with Opera Boston.
2005–2006
  • Handel's Agrippina, dynamically semi-staged: "The finest local operatic performance in several seasons." (Boston Globe)
  • Regional premiere of Cherubini's powerful Requiem in C minor. "An important re-discovery." (Boston Globe)