New York Early Music Celebration

2024 marks both the 50th anniversary of the Early Music Foundation,

and the 20th anniversary of the first New York Early Music Celebration. 

An EMF Service-to-the-Field project, this festival is designed to showcase New York’s

historically informed performance artists, ensembles and presenters.

In 2004, EMF organized a city-wide early music celebration that spawned sixty-plus events. In 2007, the number of participants grew to more than ninety. In 2010, EMF together with the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Concerts & Lectures and Musical Instruments Departments combined resources to co-produce a day-long Early Music Festival.

In 2013, the festival concept was enhanced by introducing a national theme, Pro Musica Polonica, with select foreign guests. The 2015 festival’s national theme was titled El Nuevo Mundo, showcasing music and ensembles from Latin America and Iberia; and the 2017 festival was titled The Low Countries, featuring music and guest artists from Flanders and Holland. Ex Borealis (2019) focused on repertoire from the Nordic and Baltic regions, not often heard in New York, and included artists and ensembles from those areas.

The Eighth New York Early Music Celebration will be observed throughout the month of October.