BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Indiana University Early Music Institute (EMI) and the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra (IBO) have teamed up to present the inaugural EMI/IBO concerto competition, designed to provide early music students in the IU Jacobs School of Music an opportunity to perform with a professional period-instruments orchestra. The resulting concert will take place Saturday, Feb. 25, at 4 p.m. in Auer Hall.
Conducted by the IBO's artistic director, internationally renowned Baroque flutist Barthold Kuijken, the concert will also include a suite by George Phillip Telemann, J. S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 and W. A. Mozart's flute concerto in D, with Kuijken as soloist.
"It is impossible to overstate the excitement we feel about this new partnership," said Barbara Kallaur, a Jacobs School adjunct faculty member and founding member of the ensemble. "The ensemble is made up mostly of Jacobs School of Music alumni, and it therefore makes complete sense that we would support such a venture."
Kuijken's stay with the orchestra amounts to a weeklong residency, with four orchestral performances around Indiana. Of special note for Bloomington audiences are the master classes, held Monday, Feb. 20, and Tuesday, Feb. 21, from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in Ford-Crawford Hall.
The jury for the competition's final round is Simon Crookall, president and CEO of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra; Dana Marsh, director of music at Christ Church Cathedral; and Kuijken.
Master class participants include two students from the Jacobs School of Music, Jeremy Woodard, a D.M. student studying with Paul Elliott, and Stephen Hynes, an M.M. student studying with Kathryn Lukas. Other performers are students and faculty from the Oberlin Conservatory, the University of Mississippi and the Interlochen Arts Academy. Both master classes are open to the public.
Born in Belgium, Kuijken is an esteemed musician, conductor, scholar, teacher and editor. His 40-year career includes many performances with European period-instrument ensembles as well as groundbreaking musical collaborations with his brothers Sigiswald and Weiland and early music luminaries such as Gustav Leonhardt and Alfred Deller.
"He considers the IBO to be his American orchestra," said Kallaur.
Kuijken and his wife, Mich�le, live in a small village in Flanders and have three children and two grandchildren.