An early music ensemble is a musical ensemble that specializes in performing early music of the European classical tradition from the Baroque era and earlier – broadly, music produced before about 1750. Most, but not all, of these groups are advocates of historically informed performance , and attempt to re-create the music as it might have sounded at the time it was written, using period instruments and modifying playing techniques according to the most recent scholarly research into music of the time.
Names in parentheses below indicate current directors, unless otherwise indicated.
Académie Baroque de Montréal (Suzie LeBlanc )
Arion Orchestre Baroque , Montréal
Early Music Vancouver (EMV) , Vancouver: early music concert series
Ensemble Caprice (Matthias Maute ), Montréal
Ensemble Claude-Gervaise , Montréal
Nota Bene Players & Singers (Howard Dyck ). Waterloo: early music orchestra and chamber choir
Opera Atelier , Toronto: baroque opera company
The Pacific Baroque Orchestra , Vancouver
Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal : mostly music of the Renaissance and early baroque
Tafelmusik , Toronto: baroque orchestra and chamber choir
Theatre of Early Music (Daniel Taylor ), Toronto: chamber choir
Victoria Baroque , Victoria: early music ensemble
Les Violons du Roy (Jonathan Cohen ), Québec City: early music orchestra
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin : baroque orchestra
Pera Ensemble : baroque orchestra, Alla Turca
Cantus Cölln (Konrad Junghänel ): Renaissance and baroque vocal
La Capella Ducale Musica Fiata (Roland Wilson )
Cologne Chamber Orchestra (Helmut Müller-Brühl ): baroque orchestra
Concerto Köln : baroque orchestra; concert master: Evgeny Sviridov , guest conductors inc. Evelino Pidò , Daniel Harding
Ensemble amarcord , Leipzig, vocal ensemble, medieval, Renaissance, contemporary
Ensemble Santenay , Trossingen, Germany: Renaissance choral
Ensemble Schirokko Hamburg : baroque orchestra
Estampie : medieval
Freiburger Barockorchester (Gottfried von der Goltz ): baroque orchestra
G. A. P. Ensemble , instrumental trio
Gaechinger Cantorey and Internationale Bachakademie , Stuttgart
Hamburger Ratsmusik : baroque chamber orchestra
il Gusto Barocco : baroque orchestra
Johann Rosenmüller Ensemble (Arno Paduch ): Renaissance baroque choir and orchestra
Lautten Compagney (Wolfgang Katschner ): early music ensemble
Münchener Bach-Orchester (founder Karl Richter )
Musica Antiqua Köln (formerly Reinhard Goebel ): baroque chamber music, now disbanded
Musica Fiata (Roland Wilson ): baroque wind orchestra
Oni Wytars (Marco Ambrosini ): medieval music
L'Orfeo Barockorchester (Michi Gaigg ): baroque orchestra
Pantagruel : Renaissance music trio
Rheinische Kantorei and the Kleine Konzert (Hermann Max ): baroque choir and orchestra
Sarband : baroque orchestra
Sequentia (Benjamin Bagby ): medieval
La Stagione (Michael Schneider ), Frankfurt: baroque orchestra
Studio der frühen Musik (Thomas Binkley d.), Munich : medieval, disbanded
Telemann-Kammerorchester Michaelstein (Ludger Rémy ): baroque orchestra
Weser-Renaissance Bremen (Manfred Cordes ): Renaissance and baroque
Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra : baroque orchestra (music director: David Shemer)
Accademia Daniel : baroque chamber group
Ensemble PHOENIX on period instruments: broad ensemble performing from Middle Ages to Early Romantic music on period instruments, working since 1998 (conductor & musical director Myrna Herzog)[ 1] [ 2]
Profeti della Quinta , Israel/Switzerland: vocal ensemble
Barrocade: baroque orchestra (music director: Amit Tiefenbrunn)
Canto (Andris Gailis), Riga : Renaissance and baroque vocal and instrumental music
Collegium Choro Musici Riga (Māris Kupčs): baroque choir
Collegium Musicum Riga (Māris Kupčs): baroque orchestra
Lirum, Riga : Renaissance vocal music ensemble
Ludus (Māra Birziņa), Riga : late Renaissance to early baroque (chamber music)
Schola Cantorum Riga (Guntars Prānis): gregorian and early medieval chants
Trakula: medieval and Renaissance vocal and instrumental music
Concerto Atlântico (Pedro Caldeira Cabral ): medieval to baroque
Officium Ensemble (Pedro Teixeira ): renaissance
Il Dolcimelo (Isabel Monteiro ): Renaissance
Orquestra Barroca Casa da Música (Laurence Cummings ): baroque orchestra
AVRES SERVA (Nuno Oliveira ): early baroque to early classical
CONCERTO IBÉRICO ORQUESTRA BARROCA (João Paulo Janeiro): baroque orchestra
FLORES DE MVSICA (João Paulo Janeiro): instrumental and vocal ensemble, renaissance to classical
Baroque Camerata[ 3]
Formosan Baroque[ 4]
The Gleam Ensemble[ 5]
Academy of Ancient Music (Christopher Hogwood founder, currently Laurence Cummings ): baroque orchestra
Alamire (David Skinner ): vocal consort
Avison Ensemble : baroque orchestra
The Band of Instruments: baroque orchestra, New Chamber Opera
Brandenburg Consort (Roy Goodman ): baroque orchestra
Brecon Baroque (Rachel Podger ): baroque orchestra
The Brook Street Band , Handel specialists
Cancionero , Kent
Cantilena (Adrian Shepherd ): baroque on modern instruments
The Cardinall's Musick (Andrew Carwood ): choir
City Waites (inc. Lucie Skeaping ): medieval to baroque English music and folk
Collegium Musicum 90 (Simon Standage ), English baroque orchestra
The Consort of Musicke (Anthony Rooley ): Renaissance vocal, madrigals
Deller Consort (founded by Alfred Deller d.): Renaissance and baroque chamber
Dufay Collective : William Lyons, artistic director, medieval and renaissance instrumental and vocal
Dunedin Consort Director John Butt. Based in Scotland.
Early Music Consort of London (David Munrow d.): medieval, defunct
Early Opera Company : baroque opera
English Baroque Soloists (John Eliot Gardiner ): baroque and classical-era music
The English Concert (Trevor Pinnock founder, then Andrew Manze , now Harry Bicket )
Ex Cathedra (Jeffrey Skidmore ): choir and baroque orchestra
I Fagiolini : vocal consort, madrigals
Florilegium , London: baroque
Fretwork : viol consort
The Gesualdo Six vocal ensemble
Gabrieli Consort & Players (Paul McCreesh ): baroque choir and orchestra
Gothic Voices (Christopher Page ): medieval and Renaissance music
The Hanover Band : period instrument orchestra
The Harp Consort (Andrew Lawrence-King ): Renaissance consort
The Hilliard Ensemble (formerly directed by Paul Hillier ): medieval, Renaissance and contemporary music
The King's Consort (Robert King ): baroque orchestra; see also Retrospect Ensemble
King's Singers : vocal sextet
London Baroque (founded in 1978 by Ingrid Seifert and Charles Medlam ): baroque chamber orchestra
Magpie Lane , Oxfordshire: folk band
Musica Reservata (John S. Beckett ), London
New London Consort (Philip Pickett ): medieval to baroque orchestra
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment : baroque orchestra
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique (John Eliot Gardiner ): classical and romantic orchestra
Orlando Consort : vocal quartet
Oxford Camerata (Jeremy Summerly ): Renaissance choral
Palladian Ensemble, British instrumental ensemble (co-founded by Rachel Podger )
The Parley of Instruments (Roy Goodman ): baroque orchestra
Phantasm : viol consort
Philip Jones Brass Ensemble (Philip Jones ): brass quintet
Polyphony (Stephen Layton ): Renaissance, romantic and contemporary music
Pro Cantione Antiqua : Renaissance choral
Raglan Baroque Players (Nicholas Kraemer ): baroque orchestra
Red Priest : baroque orchestra, specializing in Vivaldi
Retrospect Ensemble : baroque orchestra
Rose Consort of Viols
La Serenissima (Adrian Chandler ): baroque orchestra, Vivaldi
The Sixteen (Harry Christophers ): mostly a cappella music of the Renaissance, with baroque orchestra for Handel
Solistes de Musique Ancienne : baroque orchestra and choir
Sounds Baroque (Julian Perkins ): period instrument ensemble
Stile Antico : early music vocal ensemble
Tallis Scholars (Peter Phillips ): a cappella Renaissance music
Taverner Consort and Players (Andrew Parrott ): Renaissance choir and baroque orchestra
Theatre of Voices : vocal consort
Tonus Peregrinus (Antony Pitts ): Renaissance and contemporary choir
Trinity Baroque , Trinity College, Cambridge : vocal ensemble
Voces8 : vocal ensemble
Westminster Abbey Choir (Simon Preston )
Westminster Cathedral Choir (David Hill )
Alkemie Early Music Ensemble
American Bach Soloists
Anonymous 4 : all-female a cappella ensemble specializing in medieval music
Apollo's Fire (Jeannette Sorrell ), Cleveland: Renaissance, baroque, early classical orchestra
Arcadia Players
Asteria Medievale , duo, New York: Renaissance chansons
Austin Baroque Orchestra & Chorus : baroque orchestra and choir specializing in Iberian and Latin American early music
Bach Ensemble (Joshua Rifkin ): baroque soloists and orchestra
Bach Sinfonia (Daniel Abraham ), Maryland
Baltimore Consort
Blue Heron , Boston
Boston Baroque (Martin Pearlman ): baroque orchestra
Boston Camerata (Anne Azéma )
Boston Early Music Festival : baroque orchestra and opera company
Bourbon Baroque (Nicolas Fortin and John Austin Clark ): baroque orchestra
Camerata Mediterranea (Joel Cohen )
Chanticleer : choir
Early Music New York , medieval, Renaissance, baroque and classical
Ensemble Alcatraz (Shira Kammen ): medieval
Fanfare Barok , baroque, Washington, D.C.
Folger Consort
Handel and Haydn Society , Boston: baroque choir and orchestra
Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra (Barthold Kuijken )
Istanpitta Early Music Ensemble (Albert Cofrin ): Medieval
Lyra Baroque Orchestra (Jacques Ogg ): baroque to early classical orchestra
Magnificat Baroque Ensemble
Music of the Baroque (Jane Glover ), Chicago
Musica Angelica (Martin Haselböck ), Los Angeles
New Trinity Baroque (Predrag Gosta ), Atlanta
New York Collegium (Andrew Parrott ), dissolved
New York Polyphony
New York Pro Musica Antiqua (Noah Greenberg d. 1966, then John Reeves White to 1974): choir, defunct
Newberry Consort , at the Newberry Library : baroque chamber
North Carolina Baroque Orchestra , Davidson, NC
Opera Lafayette : pre-1800 opera
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (Nicholas McGegan ): baroque orchestra
Piffaro, The Renaissance Band , Philadelphia
Portland Baroque Orchestra (Julian Perkins )
Project Ars Nova (inc. Crawford Young ): medieval
Renaissance Street Singers , New York City, a cappella Renaissance
Rose Ensemble Jordan Sramek, St. Paul
Schola Antiqua of Chicago
Texas Early Music Project , Austin, Texas
Tempesta di Mare: The Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra (Gwyn Roberts )
TENET (ensemble) , now known as TENET Vocal Artists, New York, NY
Three Notch'd Road: The Virginia Baroque Ensemble , Charlottesville, VA
Virginia Tech Early Music Ensemble
Voices of Music , San Francisco, California
Wyoming Baroque , Sheridan, Wyoming
Unspecified or international [ edit ]