Musica Pacifica

Education & Outreach

Musica Pacifica is delighted to offer a variety of school and community outreach activities, including masterclasses, ensemble coachings, individual lessons, lecture-demonstrations and school programs. Musica Pacifica plays a variety of musical selections, may read from the literature of the period, and may use slides showing contemporary scenes and works of art.  The discussion level is geared to the age and sophistication of the audience, and will be interactive wherever possible.

Beyond our famous interactive Introduction to Baroque Music and Period Instruments program, Musica Pacifica offers several ready-made programs sure to entertain and enrich music lovers of all ages.

MUSIC & SOCIETY

In broader social context

The music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries provides a window into the lives of the people of those times.

THE MUSIC & DANCE OF COLONIAL TIMES

EAVESDROP ON AN EMERGING NATION

Music and dance were the primary forms of entertainment available to American colonists of the mid-eighteenth century.

POPULAR MUSIC: THEN & NOW

Popular music was the basis of much of the art music of the 17th and 18th centuries

Today's popular music (including jazz, standards, rock and rap) are compared and contrasted with early folk and popular forms.

Touring Programs

Musica Pacifica's core ensemble of recorder, violin, cello/gamba, and harpsichord expands to include oboe, percussion, additional strings, bassoon, lute, and voice, according to program and presenters' desires.

Hijinks of the High Baroque

A fun and user-friendly concert that mixes humor and the High Baroque. Beautiful pieces are punctuated with hilarious stories of the composers' misdeeds and shenanigans. Consisting of pieces written by some of the greats —Handel, Telemann, Veracini, Rameau, Purcell, etc — it is an engaging approach to music that is often typecast as “too serious.”  

(Instrumentation: recorder, violin, viola da gamba, harpsichord) 

Stravagante!

A collection of passionate, dazzling and infrequently heard music from one of the most innovative periods of western music. During this period, Italian and German virtuosi broke new ground with passionately expressive sonatas, vibrant dance rhythms and infectious ground-basses. So sit back and be transported as Musica Pacifica leads you gracefully through pieces by Tarquinio Merula, Antonio Bertali, Heinrich Schmelzer, Johann Rosenmüller, Dario Castello, and Marco Uccellini.

(Instrumentation: recorder, violin, cello, lute and/or harpsichord, and percussion)

Dancing in the Isles

Rousing Baroque folk and dance music from early England, Ireland, and Scotland. This program includes a little something for everyone! It features bespoke arrangements of traditional Irish and Scottish folk tunes, dance suites from the English theater, Jacobean masque music and more. 

(Instrumentation: recorder, 2 violins, and continuo. Optional lute/guitar and percussion) 

A Family Affair

A program of solo/duo/trio sonatas and chamber concertos by one of the greatest musical families in history. Comprised of works by patriarch (J.S. Bach), his sons (W.F. and C.P.E. Bach), and godfather/close family friend (Georg Philipp Telemann), this concert also includes readings from personal letters of the composers which provides both a context for their works and offers an intimate glimpse into the lives behind them. 

(Instrumentation: recorder, violin, viola da gamba, and harpsichord. Optional oboe, lute/guitar, and additional violin)

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You are an integral part of the Musica Pacifica family. Along with our active schedule, your support proves that Baroque music is alive and well.

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