Here’s the lineup for the 2026 Cincinnati Early Music Festival! Click on an event to see more information. (Looking for the year-round early music schedule? Click here.) If you’d like to hear about festival updates via email, you can sign up here!
Join us at The Loon in Northside for our yearly Early Music Rev! Some of the best music from the Baroque and earlier can be enjoyed in a lively bar environment.
A fine example of Venetian Baroque opera, this fable of two couples having their fidelity tested by capricious gods provokes many misunderstandings and adventures in the name of love. Kidnappings, threats, magic and madness all find their way into this ultimately charming Baroque masterpiece. Don't miss this rarely performed work!
A fine example of Venetian Baroque opera, this fable of two couples having their fidelity tested by capricious gods provokes many misunderstandings and adventures in the name of love. Kidnappings, threats, magic and madness all find their way into this ultimately charming Baroque masterpiece. Don't miss this rarely performed work!
The 2026 Tapestry Concert will feature a variety of musicians from around Cincinnati performing early music sets of their choosing. We’ll have a mix of vocalists and instrumentalists for your listening pleasure. Join us to celebrate the diverse talents of our Cincinnati early music community!
A fine example of Venetian Baroque opera, this fable of two couples having their fidelity tested by capricious gods provokes many misunderstandings and adventures in the name of love. Kidnappings, threats, magic and madness all find their way into this ultimately charming Baroque masterpiece. Don't miss this rarely performed work!
Harpsichordist Dr. Micaela Schmitz is celebrating both the Blessed Carlo Acutis (Saint from spring, 2025) and an instrument baptism of her new Pentagonal Virginals (similar to a harpsichord). The program features pieces from the Renaissance that link to Carlo’s devotion to the Virgin Mary, to the Eucharist and to God. Composers include Byrd, Cabezon, Picchi, Frescobaldi, Rossi, Froberger, and more. It can be heard as a concert or treated as a meditation.
Cincinnati Recorder Consort will present instrumental works from late Renaissance through the High Baroque, including those of Gabrielli, Schutz, Wert, Buxtehude, and Brade among others.
This is a Doctoral Voice Recital focusing on the analysis and comparison of Bach's soprano arias in relation to French Baroque dance traditions. In each aria, Maren will trace and highlight elements of French Baroque dance style and explore how these features inform interpretation and performance.
The Laudate Pueri Children’s Schola Cantorum will join forces with the Oratory Singers of Old St. Mary’s Church and period instrumentalists in presenting a performance of Augustin Pfleger’s Passionsmusik of 1670, a moving Passion-oratorio centered on the Seven Last Words. This is one of the precursor works to J.S. Bach’s great Passions and a poignant preparation for Lent.
Collegium Cincinnati will perform all six of J. S. Bach’s landmark motets. Do not miss this rare opportunity to hear some of the greatest choral pieces ever written in one concert!
Love singing early music? Let’s do it together! All are welcome to join. Bring a smartphone or tablet if you have one, and be sure to RSVP so we can have enough music and coffee to go around.
GRAMMY-nominated lutenist, Ronn McFarlane brings the lute—the most popular instrument of the Renaissance—into today’s musical mainstream making it accessible to a wider audience. Hosted by the Greater Cincinnati Guitar Society.
Join Cincinnati Camerata and organist Dr. John Deaver in a performance featuring choral and solo organ works by Parisian composers throughout history—including François Roberday, Pierre Certon, Charles Racquet, and François Couperin—and culminating in Louis Vierne's Messe Solennelle for choir and two(!) organs.
Harpsichordist Dr. Micaela Schmitz is celebrating both the Blessed Carlo Acutis (Saint from spring, 2025) and an instrument baptism of her new Pentagonal Virginals (similar to a harpsichord). The program features pieces from the Renaissance that link to Carlo’s devotion to the Virgin Mary, to the Eucharist and to God. Composers include Byrd, Cabezon, Picchi, Frescobaldi, Rossi, Froberger, and more. It can be heard as a concert or treated as a meditation.
Mount St. Mary’s Seminary & School of Theology will celebrate Solemn Vespers at 7pm, preceded by an organ recital by Matthew Geerlings, Director of Music at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains. The Vespers will conclude with choral pieces featuring baroque music from the Americas, and the Chorale will be accompanied by an ensemble of specialists playing historical instruments: lute, baroque guitar, viola da gamba, and organ.
Join Ars Audax for a performance of the trios "Aita, Amanti" and " La Speranza vuol cosi" by Marco Marazzoli, "The Denial of St. Peter" by M.A Charpentier, selections 2, 5, 7, and 9 from Concerti Ecclesiastici by Giovanni Paolo Cima and "La Mort D'Hercule" by Louis-Nicolas Clérambault.
Harpsichordist Dr. Micaela Schmitz is celebrating both the Blessed Carlo Acutis (Saint from spring, 2025) and an instrument baptism of her new Pentagonal Virginals (similar to a harpsichord). The program features pieces from the Renaissance that link to Carlo’s devotion to the Virgin Mary, to the Eucharist and to God. Composers include Byrd, Cabezon, Picchi, Frescobaldi, Rossi, Froberger, and more. It can be heard as a concert or treated as a meditation.
This concert will focus on the rich history and profound beauty of vocal ensembles. 7HB will be joined by several of Cincinnati’s most amazing voices for this can’t-miss, all-vocal event in one of Greater Cincinnati’s most beautiful cathedrals.
Moyen Age and Cantus Florens will collaborate to present Sephardic songs from the 14th through 17th centuries. In addition, some scintillating songs and dances of Spring (wishful thinking by late February...) will magically occur in order to put an end to all the cold and snow we have experienced the last three months.
At the outset of Lent, this contemplative musical meditation featuring acclaimed mezzo-soprano Christina Hazen and string orchestra centers on two strikingly contrasting settings of the Stabat Mater, the ancient 13th-century hymn that recalls the suffering of the Virgin Mary at the foot of the cross.
Ensemble con Fuoco, under the direction of David Castillo Gocher, presents two powerful works that speak across centuries to themes of suffering, compassion, and renewal: Dieterich Buxtehude’s “Membra Jesu Nostri” (1680) and Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Caroline Shaw’s “To the Hands” (2016).
Ensemble con Fuoco, under the direction of David Castillo Gocher, presents two powerful works that speak across centuries to themes of suffering, compassion, and renewal: Dieterich Buxtehude’s “Membra Jesu Nostri” (1680) and Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Caroline Shaw’s “To the Hands” (2016).
