The Merry Fiddler by Gerard van Honthorst (1592-1656)
Now in its’ 49th season, the Long Island Baroque Ensemble has been delighting growing audiences with its creative, diverse and varied programming. Their concerts always feature a repertoire of rarely heard and unpublished works, along with period favorites.
A pioneer in American early music and the premiere professional early music group on Long Island, the Long Island Baroque Ensemble duplicates the sounds and ambience of times gone by with concerts of early music performed on replicas of period instruments.
Harpsichordist, professor and emeritus Artistic Director Sonia Gezairlian Grib, and many of the musicians currently in the ensemble, are American pioneers of early music performance practice in the U.S. on period instruments.
Subsequent to Grib’s innovative leadership, the early music scene has grown substantially throughout the U.S., and many of the Long Island Baroque Ensemble’s players teach and perform in institutions nationwide that promote this genre.
The ensemble includes musicians who are active in all the great musical institutions in the world, including Carnegie Hall, Juilliard, and Lincoln Center, as well as international music festivals, joining with the Long Island communities to present great classical works right here in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.
The Long Island Baroque Ensemble will kick off the holiday season with two Joyful Jollity concerts on Saturday, Dec. 8, 7:30 p.m., at Saint Andrew’s Lutheran Church at 30 Brooksite Drive in Smithtown, and on Sunday, Dec. 9 at Christ Church Oyster Bay at 61 East Main St. in Oyster Bay. Admission is $30, $15 for students.
Looking forward, the Long Island Baroque Ensemble remains committed to presenting live music — one of the threads that binds us to our humanity and to each other — and continues to grow by increasing its audience, presenting more innovative programming, and creating education programs.
For more information and to support these quality performances, go to www.libaroque.org.
