Pittsburgh’s celebrated early-music ensemble marks 35 years with Vivaldi, Bach, medieval music, Mexican villancicos and a special anniversary performance.

For 35 years, Chatham Baroque has been making music in Pittsburgh — bringing the sounds of centuries past into intimate concert spaces and introducing audiences to composers, musical traditions and performers they might otherwise never encounter.

The ensemble’s 2026–2027 season celebrates that history while looking ahead, offering seven programs that range from the music of medieval England to 17th-century Mexico, from Renaissance songs of the British Isles to Vivaldi, Bach and music of early America.

It is a season that also brings Chatham Baroque back to its roots: Andrew Fouts on violin, Patricia Halverson on viola da gamba and Scott Pauley on theorbo, joined by an impressive roster of guest artists.

Founded in 1990, Chatham Baroque has become one of Pittsburgh’s most distinctive early-music organizations. The ensemble took its present trio form following a transition in the early 2000s and expanded its role as a presenter in 2018 when it merged with the Renaissance & Baroque concert series.

That merger has allowed Chatham Baroque to do more than perform its own programs. The organization has become an important Pittsburgh presenter of early-music artists from across the country and around the world.

The 2026–2027 season reflects both sides of that mission.

“We are celebrating 35 years of making music in Pittsburgh,” said Scott Pauley, co-artistic director of Chatham Baroque. “It is a moment to reflect on how the ensemble has grown and evolved, but also to look ahead.”

And there is plenty to look ahead to.

Seven Programs, Seven Musical Journeys

Confluence: A Pittsburgh America 250 Concert

Oct. 2, 7:30 p.m. — St. Nicholas Church
Oct. 3, 7:30 p.m. — Hicks Memorial Chapel
Oct. 4, 2:30 p.m. — Original Pittsburgh Winery

Chatham Baroque opens the season with a musical look at America at 250.

Flutist and piper Chris Norman and soprano Pascale Beaudin join the ensemble for Confluence, a program exploring the musical landscape surrounding the founding of the United States.

Baroque works meet folk tunes from English, Irish, Scottish and French traditions, reflecting the many European musical influences that converged in early America.

The program offers a reminder that America’s musical history was anything but singular.

The Wanderer

Oct. 25, 2:30 p.m. — Levy Hall

From early America, the season travels much further back in time.

The Wanderer explores exile, pilgrimage, fate and loss through musical narratives drawn from Beowulf and Anglo-Saxon elegies.

The acclaimed medieval ensemble Sequentia, led by Benjamin Bagby and Norbert Rodenkirchen, brings this evocative world to life through voice and instruments rooted in early melodic traditions.

The result is a musical journey through a world of perilous travel, memory and longing.

Ayreheart: Ayres of Albion

Nov. 22, 2:30 p.m. — Levy Hall

Renaissance music meets traditional music of the British Isles when Ronn McFarlane’s Ayreheart comes to Pittsburgh.

The Grammy-nominated lutenist and composer leads a program featuring music by John Dowland and William Byrd alongside anonymous ballads and folk songs from England, Scotland and Wales.

The program explores the fascinating connections between music written for royal courts and the musical traditions of ordinary people — while also demonstrating how contemporary musicians continue to find inspiration in the past.

A Vivaldi Christmas

Dec. 20, 2:30 p.m. — Carnegie Music Hall, Oakland

Christmas gets a Baroque makeover when Chatham Baroque presents A Vivaldi Christmas.

Vivaldi’s familiar “Winter” from The Four Seasons anchors a program featuring virtuoso instrumentalists from Pittsburgh and beyond.

The afternoon also includes Biber’s radiant Annunciation Sonata and Farina’s wonderfully playful Capriccio Stravagante.

It is a holiday program built not simply around familiar seasonal music, but around the energy, imagination and exuberance of the Baroque.

Singing in the City of the Angels: Villancicos in Puebla by Gaspar Fernández

Feb. 14, 2027, 2:30 p.m. — Calvary Episcopal Church

One of the season’s most unusual musical discoveries comes from 17th-century Puebla, Mexico.

La Boz Galana and Concerto Scirocco join forces for a program of villancicos by Gaspar Fernández, performed by 12 singers and instrumentalists.

The music is rhythmic, theatrical and full of vivid storytelling, reflecting the mixture of cultural traditions that shaped music in colonial Mexico.

For Pittsburgh audiences, it is a chance to hear a musical tradition that rarely finds its way onto local concert stages.

Art of the Trio: 35th Anniversary Edition

Emily Norman Davidson Memorial Concert

March 12, 7:30 p.m. — Teutonia Männerchor
March 13, 7:30 p.m. — Levy Hall
March 14, 2:30 p.m. — St. Nicholas Church

Then comes the anniversary celebration.

Art of the Trio puts Chatham Baroque’s three core musicians — Andrew Fouts, Patricia Halverson and Scott Pauley — at the center of the season.

The program features favorite composers from the ensemble’s repertoire, including Bach, Corelli, Castello, Matteis and Marais.

After 35 years of performing together, Fouts, Halverson and Pauley have developed the kind of musical communication that can make chamber music feel almost conversational.

This is Chatham Baroque celebrating itself — but, more importantly, celebrating the music that has sustained the ensemble for three and a half decades.

Bach in Motion

April 2, 7:30 p.m. — Calvary Episcopal Church
April 3, 2:30 p.m. — Calvary Episcopal Church

The season concludes with Chatham Baroque’s annual Bach program, but this is not simply another concert of Bach’s music.

Bach in Motion explores the relationship between sound and movement.

The program includes the motet Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden (BWV 230), the cantata Actus Tragicus (BWV 106), and the D Minor Partita (BWV 1004) for solo violin and dancer.

Fouts performs the Partita alongside international ballerina and Baroque dance specialist Julia Bengtsson, creating a meeting of music and movement that promises to give a familiar work a new dimension.

35 Years — and Still Looking Forward

The anniversary is significant, but Chatham Baroque’s 2026–2027 season is not simply a trip down memory lane.

That may be the most interesting thing about it.

The programs move freely across geography and time, connecting medieval Europe with colonial Mexico, Renaissance England with early America, and the familiar music of Vivaldi and Bach with performers and traditions that may be new to Pittsburgh audiences.

For Pauley, the anniversary is an opportunity to acknowledge where Chatham Baroque has been while continuing to explore where early music can go.

The season brings together Fouts, Halverson and Pauley in several programs, but also introduces Pittsburgh audiences to returning favorites and new musical collaborators.

“It is Andrew, Patricia and me in programs as an ensemble and joined by exceptional Baroque music specialists,” Pauley said. “Favorite composers and those less familiar, returning and introducing new touring artists, traditional performances and innovative new collaborations.”

After 35 years, Chatham Baroque continues to make a strong case for the idea that old music doesn’t have to sound old.

Sometimes, it just needs the right musicians to bring it back to life.

For complete program information, tickets and subscription details, visit Chatham Baroque.

Categories: Arts and Ideas