Festival Concerts

All events are part of the Amherst Early Music Festival, June 29 to July 13, 2025 in the Empie Theater on the campus of Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA. All concerts are at 7:30 pm, including the opera. Guests are asked to register for the Opera, no tickets to other events are required.  Entrance is general admission. Masking is requested of all guests at concerts. Thank you!

Lautenschlagen Du edle Kunst Lute Music in Late Renaissance Germany with Paul O'Dette Tuesday July 1, 7:30 p.m.
Image		Lutenist Paul O'Dette, with music of German Renaissance composers Melchior Neusidler, Matthias Reymann, Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse, Gregorius Huwet and Adrian Denss
Der getreue Music-Meister - Baroque Academy Faculty Concert Thursday, July 3, 7:30 p.m.
Image		With Baroque Academy Faculty: Aislinn Nosky violin, Hsuan-Wen Chen, Kathryn Cok, Peter Sykes harpsichord, Saskia Coolen recorder, Sarah Cunningham viol, Sarah Freiberg cello, Heather Miller Lardin double bass, Kathie Stewart flute, Margaret Owens oboe, Stephanie Corwin bassoon, and Paul O'Dette lute
Baroque Opera: Dafne by Georg Reutter Friday, July 4, 7:30 p.m.
Image		Musical direction by Richard Stone and stage direction by Nell Snaidas, with Jennifer Ellis Kampani, vocal coach, Lawrence Rosenwald, language coach, Dorothy Olsson and Peggy Murray, historical dance, Ronnie Snader, costumes, and Paul Guttry, sets and props. Georg Reutte's Dafne (1734), is a festa teatrale composed for the imperial family in Vienna. Drawn from Ovid’s Metamorphoses of classical antiquity, the opera sets the myth of woodland nymph Daphne, her desperate flight from Apollo, lovesick from Cupid’s poisoned arrow, and her magical transformation. Guests are asked to register in advance.
A Wunderkammer of Early Music Saturday, July 5, 7:30 p.m.
Image		A variety show of early music through the ages performed by wonderful AEM faculty using many different instruments and voices. Program will include music from Germany and the German lands: Medieval love songs, Renaissance consort music, high Baroque sonatas, and fantasies that will delight and inspire!
Festival Lecture - Demonstration The Cosmopolitan: Oswald von Wolkenstein (1377-1445) Tuesday, July 8, 7:30 p.m.
Image		A lecture-demonstration by Benjamin Bagby and Lisa Solomon, (voices), and Lawrence Rosenwald (texts, translations, and historical background) The three faculty members of this year’s medieval program will discuss the figure of the amazingly prolific Tirolean poet and adventurer, Oswald von Wolkenstein. With musical examples.
A Family Affair: celebrating the Renaissance Consort Thursday, July 10, 7:30 p.m.
Image		An evening of consorts of viols, recorders, shawms, cornetto-sackbut-ducian, voices, krumhons and more.
Buxtehude, Bach, & Bach Friday, July 11, 7:30 p.m.
Image		The Festival's Choral Workshop, Directed by Anna Lenti. Program will include pieces by Dieterich Buxtehude (1637 – 1707): Herzlich lieb hab ich dic, O Herr, BuxWV41, Johann Ludwig Bach (1677-1731) Unsere trubsal, and Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-175) Nach dir Herr verlanget mich, BWV 150.
A Wunderkammer of Early Music Saturday, July 12, 7:30 p.m.
Image		A variety show of early music through the ages performed by wonderful AEM faculty using many different instruments and voices. Program will include music from Germany and the German lands: Medieval love songs, Renaissance consort music, high Baroque sonatas, and fantasies that will delight and inspire!