The Renaissance and Baroque Society of Pittsburgh is a non-profit performing arts organization in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that presents performances of music from the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and early Classical periods with an emphasis on historically informed performance. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, describes it as having "developed one of the area's most faithful and enthusiastic followings." Its main performance venue is Synod Hall, adjacent to the Cathedral of Saint Paul. Among the ensembles which have been presented by the society are Apollo's Fire, Trio Medieval, Quadriga Consort and The Academy of Ancient Music.
The society was established in 1969 with Colin Stern as one of its key founders. Stern, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh where he taught for 38 years until his retirement in 1986, was an expert on early music performance practice and the founder of the period-instrument ensemble, Ars Antiqua Players. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, both the Ars Antiqua Players and the Renaissance and Baroque Society "helped stimulate interest in pre-Bach music nationwide." In the 2008-09 season, the society celebrated its 40th anniversary. The program included performances by Tallis Scholars, Richard Egarr and Flanders Recorder Quartet as well as a new work commissioned by the society to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Fort Duquesne. Battle of the Forks, an arrangement of writings and music from the period including two pieces of music by the English general John Reid (1721–1807), premiered on September 27, 2008 at Synod Hall in Pittsburgh performed by the Chris Norman Ensemble, Concerto Caledonia and members of the Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama.
Read more about Renaissance And Baroque Society Of Pittsburgh: See Also
Famous quotes containing the words renaissance, baroque, society and/or pittsburgh:
“People nowadays like to be together not in the old-fashioned way of, say, mingling on the piazza of an Italian Renaissance city, but, instead, huddled together in traffic jams, bus queues, on escalators and so on. It’s a new kind of togetherness which may seem totally alien, but it’s the togetherness of modern technology.”
—J.G. (James Graham)
“Prose is architecture, not interior decoration, and the Baroque is over.”
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)
“It used to be said that, socially speaking, Philadelphia asked who a person is, New York how much is he worth, and Boston what does he know. Nationally it has now become generally recognized that Boston Society has long cared even more than Philadelphia about the first point and has refined the asking of who a person is to the point of demanding to know who he was. Philadelphia asks about a man’s parents; Boston wants to know about his grandparents.”
—Cleveland Amory (b. 1917)
“The largest business in American handled by a woman is the Money Order Department of the Pittsburgh Post-office; Mary Steel has it in charge.”
—Lydia Hoyt Farmer (1842–1903)