Virtuoso guest artists and ensembles from around the world will visit MSU beginning in early October to perform Baroque music as the MSU College of Music kicks off the 2021-22 Taylor Johnston Early Music Series. Now in its sixth year, the annual series brings accomplished artists and groups to Fairchild Theatre to perform music unlike any heard in the mid-Michigan area.

Harmonious Blacksmith is the first guest ensemble to step on stage on Sunday, October 10, at 7 p.m. in Fairchild Theatre. The program “Transcontinental Baroque” presents Baroque musical portraits representing Queen Christina’s transcontinental journey from Sweden to Italy. The concert features works by Buxtehude, de la Guerre, Corelli, and Scarlatti, and explores music that Queen Christina may have heard during her years-long voyage.

Harmonious Blacksmith takes its name from the popular final movement of George Frederic Handel’s “Suite No. 5, Air and Variations.” The critically-acclaimed ensemble consists of four members: Kathie Stewart, traverso and recorder; Aaron Berofsky, violin; Jaap ter Linden, viola da gamba and cello; and Joseph Gascho, harpsichord and ensemble director with guest soprano Catherine Moss. The group previously came to MSU as guest artists in the 2017 as part of the early music series.

In addition to their performance, the members of the ensemble will lead a workshop, “A 21st-c. Approach to Informed Performance of Baroque Music,” for students and the public earlier in the day on Sunday, October 10, at 1:00 p.m. in Hollander Hall in the MSU Music Building. Gascho describes this workshop as a broad-ranging discussion and demonstration for conductors, singers, string players, wind players, and keyboard players with the goal of providing some practical advice into how performance practice knowledge can really benefit any musician performing Baroque music?

“Harmonious Blacksmith is excited to be back at MSU for the wonderful concert series that was endowed by Taylor Johnston,” said Gascho. “In Johnston’s honor, we’re featuring the recorder, the instrument he loved to play. We are also glad to be speaking to MSU students about the performance of 17th and 18th century European music.

Other upcoming concerts at Fairchild Theatre in this series include:

• The Medici Ensemble, Saturday, November 6th, 8:00 p.m.                                                                        
• Aldo Abreu and Friends, Tuesday, March 29th, 7:30 p.m.         

“We are so fortunate to have these outstanding, world-renowned ensembles share their exciting music-making with our music community,” says Senior Associate Dean David Rayl, director of the series.  “To present them in concert on the Fairchild stage in thrilling, historically informed performances of Baroque music will be a treat for our students and audiences.”

This series is generously sponsored by the Taylor Johnston Early Music Series Endowment established by Taylor Johnston. Dr. Johnston had been an MSU professor for 51 years and passed away in 2019. His long-time passion for music, particularly early music, led him to establish the series.