The Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra is a

Baroque orchestra A Baroque orchestra is an ensemble for mixed instruments that existed during the Baroque era of Western Classical music, commonly identified as 1600–1750. Baroque orchestras are typically much smaller, in terms of the number of performers, than t ...

dedicated to performing music of the 17th and 18th centuries using

period instruments In the historically informed performance movement, musicians perform classical music using restored or replicated versions of the instruments for which it was originally written. Often performances by such musicians are said to be "on authentic ...

and

historically informed performance Historically informed performance (also referred to as period performance, authentic performance, or HIP) is an approach to the performance of Western classical music, classical music, which aims to be faithful to the approach, manner and style of ...

practices to enrich, educate, and inspire the

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

community and beyond. The orchestra's artistic director is the

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

Baroque flutist and conductor,

Barthold Kuijken Barthold Kuijken (; born 8 March 1949, Dilbeek) is a Belgians, Belgian flautist and Recorder (musical instrument), recorder player, known for playing baroque music on Historically informed performance, historical instruments and particularly kno ...

History

Established in 1997 under the umbrella of IndyBaroque Music, Inc., the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra performs season concerts at the Indiana History Center and the

University of Indianapolis The University of Indianapolis (UIndy) is a private United Methodist Church-affiliated university in Indianapolis, Indiana. It offers Associate, Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctoral degrees. It was founded in 1902 as Indiana Central University and ...

, where the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra has been ensemble-in-residence since 1999. The members of the group perform on instruments built between about 1600 and 1750, or

replica A 1:1 replica is an exact copy of an object, made out of the same raw materials, whether a molecule, a work of art, or a commercial product. The term is also used for copies that closely resemble the original, without claiming to be identical. Al ...

s thereof, including instruments not in common use today, such as the

theorbo The theorbo is a plucked string instrument of the lute family, with an extended neck and a second pegbox. Like a lute, a theorbo has a curved-back sound box (a hollow box) with a wooden top, typically with a sound hole, and a neck extending ou ...

, the

violone The term violone (; literally "large viol" in Italian, " -one" being the augmentative suffix) can refer to several distinct large, bowed musical instruments which belong to either the viol or violin family. The violone is sometimes a fretted i ...

, the

sackbut The term sackbut refers to the early forms of the trombone commonly used during the Renaissance music, Renaissance and Baroque music, Baroque eras. A sackbut has the characteristic telescopic slide of a trombone, used to vary the length of th ...

, wooden one-keyed

flutes The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

, valveless

trumpets The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard B ...

, and the

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

Recordings

The Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra has released 4 CD recordings on the

Naxos label Naxos comprises numerous companies, divisions, imprints, and labels specializing in classical music but also audiobooks and other genres. The premier label is Naxos Records which focuses on classical music. Naxos Musical Group encompasses about 1 ...

under the baton of

: ''The Lully Effect'' (Naxos, 2018), ''The Versailles Revolution'' (Naxos, 2018), ''The Colourful Telemann'' (Naxos, 2020) and ''The Grand Mogul'' (Naxos, 2019). Their recordings have attracted international attention and praise.

Collaborations

The Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra partners with the

Indianapolis Early Music Festival Indianapolis Early Music (IEM) is a non-profit organization established in Indianapolis in 1966 to organize concerts featuring music of the medieval, renaissance, baroque, and early classic eras. Since 1966, it has produced the annual Indianapol ...

in the quadrennial Indianapolis International Baroque Competition, established in 2016. The orchestra also collaborates with the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, the Indianapolis Suzuki Academy, and Second Presbyterian's Beecher Singers on an annual Handel Messiah performance. In 2019, the orchestra began performing on the Marianne Tobias Music Program at Eskenazi Health and on a series of Sunday concerts at Newfields, Indianapolis Art Museum.

References

External links

* {{authority control Historically informed performance Early music orchestras Non-profit organizations based in Indianapolis Early music groups Chamber orchestras Musical groups established in 1997 Arts organizations based in Indiana Baroque instruments Naxos Records artists