Early Music Concert Explores America’s Colonial Soundscape
The MSU College of Music welcomes guest artists of Ensemble Affect for a program titled Colonial Baroque on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. in Fairchild Theatre of the MSU Auditorium. The concert opens the 2026–2027 Taylor Johnston Early Music Series, which invites audiences to experience music from past centuries through period instruments and repertoire presented in their original cultural contexts.
Created in recognition of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Colonial Baroque explores music from America’s colonial period. The program highlights works by composers who emigrated from Europe to the American colonies, including Giovanni Gualdo, William Tuckey, and Charles Theodore Pachelbel, alongside music by colonial-born composers John Antes and John Tufts. Together, these composers helped shape the musical identity of a young nation. Known for bringing earlier eras to life through historically informed interpretation, Ensemble Affect’s Colonial Baroque program explores the sounds and influences that helped define musical life in colonial America. Guest artists include Sun Chang (harpsichord), Phoebe Gelzer-Govatos (violin), Kioye Matsuura (violin and viola), Pauline Kempf (violin, artistic director), Bahareh Poureslami (soprano), Erik Andersen (cello), and Seth Van Embden (viola).
Performing on period instruments modeled after those used in the 17th and 18th centuries, Ensemble Affect brings audiences closer to the sounds and traditions of the Baroque era.
Other upcoming concerts in the series include Les Délices (October 6, 2026), presenting Bach’s Musical Offering, a collection of canons and fugues inspired by Frederick the Great of Prussia; and Cappella Pratensis and Piffaro (March 2, 2027), combining a Dutch vocal ensemble with wind-band instrumentation to present A Mass for Manila, music of the late sixteenth century as it may have been heard at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Manila, Philippines.
Colonial Baroque is generously sponsored by Dr. Roy and Christine Meland. The series is underwritten by the Taylor Johnston Early Music Series Endowment, established by the late Taylor Johnston, a longtime MSU professor whose passion for early music led to this enduring legacy.
This concert is presented during the MSU College of Music’s “20 Years of Momentum” anniversary season, celebrating two decades as an independent college while building on a musical tradition at MSU that spans more than 160 years.
Tickets: Reserved seating tickets purchased at the door are $19 for adults, $17 for seniors (age 60+),
and $9 for students and those under 18 with valid ID. Tickets may also be purchased online at music.msu.edu/events or by calling (517) 353-5340; tickets purchased online or by phone include a
$1.50 processing fee.
