Madison Early Music Festival
The Madison Early Music Festival was created in 2000 to provide an opportunity for musicians, scholars, teachers and early music enthusiasts to gather and exchange information and ideas about music before 1750. The festival brings acclaimed Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music artists to Madison to perform as well as teach classes. The Early Music Festival takes place for one week each July and it includes concert series, workshops, and special events that correlate to each year's theme. Along with classes open from beginner to master musicians, there is also a pre-concert series of lectures that provide context to the music. The ultimate goal of the festival is to broaden knowledge of music and culture and hear rarely-performed historically informed compositions that they might not have normally been exposed to.
Outcomes
Since the first festival took place in 2000, it has grown tremendously in size and has attracted people from all over the world. Recently, there have been over 400 people in attendance at each of the week's seven concerts and over 100 participants in the classes held throughout the week. The focus of the concerts, lectures, and classes differ each year with the changing topics. Recent topics: Italia Mia: 1300-1600 (2014); A Festive Celebration of the German Renaissance (2013); Welcome Home Again: An American Celebration (2012); Music of the Spanish New World (2011); England: Merry and Musical before Elizabeth (2010); Telescopic Vistas: Music of the Spheres (2009). MEMF 2015 features Slavic Discoveries: Early Music of Eastern Europe.
Focus Areas
Project Leader
Cheryl Bensman-Rowe
Artistic Director, Madison Early Music Festival
- Department/Unit
- Liberal Studies & the Arts
- School or College
- Division of Continuing Studies