How early is early?
For the Twin Cities Early Music Festival, the answer can be any time before 1800, but most of the participating musicians stay focused on the Renaissance and baroque eras that run from about 1400 to 1750.
And these musicians are HIP. That is to say, they present “historically informed performance.” That means that, if their instruments don’t date from that stretch of human history, they’re playing replicas of what would have been premiering this music back in the day.
Starting Sunday, the Twin Cities Early Music Festival marks its 10th year by presenting 10 concerts in eight days, all but one at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in St. Paul’s Merriam Park neighborhood. Harpsichordist Donald Livingston is its founder and continues to oversee the festival.
“While there are a handful of early music festivals in the U.S., they’re primarily on either coast,” Livingston said last week. “But, for decades, the Twin Cities has been a mecca for early music. Ex Machina Baroque Opera, Lyra Baroque Orchestra, the Rose Ensemble, the Bach Society of Minnesota, Consortium Carissimi, Early Music Minnesota. They’ve made the Twin Cities the center of early music in the Midwest.”
The festival has survived in part by participating in strategic mergers, such as collaborating with the formerly Vancouver-based Baroque Instrumental Program, the Jurow International Harpsichord Competition and a convention of the Historical Keyboard Society of North America. It’s also sometimes concluded with a climactic semi-staged opera, such as Christoph Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice,” George Frideric Handel’s “Acis et Galatea,” and Marco da Gagliano’s “Dafne.”
This year, it will concentrate on showcasing homegrown talent through concerts by Twin Cities-based musicians and ensembles, including a Saturday night performance honoring the 10th year of the festival and the 40th anniversary of the period-instrument orchestra, Lyra Baroque.
So what’s so special about playing centuries-old music on instruments faithful to the sound of their original era?