MORE INFORMATION:
- Friday, November 6, 2026 – 7:30 PM:
- Saturday, November 7, 2026, 7:30 PM:
- Sunday, November 8, 2026 – 3:00 PM:
- Saturday, November 7, 2026 – 9:30 AM:
- Saturday, November 7, 2026 – 9:30 AM:
- Saturday, November 7, 2026 – Noon:
- Saturday, November 7, 2026 – 3:00 PM:
- Sunday, January 31, 2027 – 3:00 PM:
- Saturday, March 6, 2027, 7:30 PM:
- Saturday, April 10, 2027, 7:30 PM:
- Saturday, May 15, 2027, 7:30 PM:
- Sunday, May 30, 2027, 3:00 PM:
BUY YOUR TICKETS HERE
FESTIVAL
November 6, 7, and 8, 2026
This year’s festival is a wonderful collaboration between Ensemble Caprice and Early Music Alberta.
For more 2026-2027 Season Concert scroll down
FESTIVAL
Friday, November 6, 2026, 7:30PM
Pre Concert talk (free) 7:00PM
MUSIC FROM HEAVEN
Celebrating strong women from the 17th century and today!
- Ensemble Caprice (Montreal)
- Matthias Maute, recorder, conductor
Tanya LaPerrière, violin
Karin Cuellar, violin
Matthew Jennejohn, cornetto
David Jacques, theorbo
Léonard Deault, sackbut
- Matthias Maute, recorder, conductor
- And
- Josephine van Lier, Cello/ viola da gamba (EMA)
Christopher Bagan, harpsichord (EMA)
- Josephine van Lier, Cello/ viola da gamba (EMA)
- Vocalists
- Sopranos:
Janelle Lucyk (EC)
Jolaine Kerley (EMA)
Dawn Bailey (EMA)
Soprano, TBA (EMA) - Alto:
4x Altos, TBA (EMA)
- Sopranos:
17th-century woman composer Cozzolani, a fascinating journey with great music. One of the great unknowns of the 17th century, Chiara Cozzolani composed sacred works for women’s choir and instruments that stand out for their opulence and sonic richness.
The voices of female angels testify to the arrival of a new era, the creative liberation of women, even in the confinement of convents!
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani (1602 – ca. 1676–1678) was a Baroque music composer, singer and Benedictine nun. She spent her adult life cloistered in the convent of Santa Radegonda, Milan. Cozzolani stood out in the convent as a singer and composer and was well-known far beyond Milan for a series of her own musical publications.
At the same time, she held the highest positions in the convent as the convent’s prioress and later the abbess. This indicates the high respect she earned in the convent community and in church circles, as well as her influence both in the convent and in the musical community.
The musical responsibility that Chiara Margarita Cozzolani had in the exceedingly musical convent, according to the Milan case records, also demonstrates the estimation her fellow nuns had for her (apart from the internal competitive disputes).
FESTIVAL
Saturday, November 7, 2026, 7:30PM
Pre Concert talk (free) 7:00PM
Transcending the Alps; Experimental music of the early baroque
- Ensemble Caprice (Montreal)
- Janelle Lucyk, soprano
Matthias Maute, recorder, conductor
Tanya LaPerrière, violin
Karin Cuellar, violin
Matthew Jennejohn, cornetto
David Jacques, theorbo
Léonard Deault, sackbut
- Janelle Lucyk, soprano
- And
- Josephine van Lier, cello/ viola da gamba (EMA)
Christopher Bagan, harpsichord (EMA)
- Josephine van Lier, cello/ viola da gamba (EMA)
While the Alps separated Italy from central and Northern Europe, music managed to cross the high chain of mountains.
Composers like Heinrich Schütz went from their German hometown and travelled all the way to Venice to study the latest developments in music.
The sun was clearly shining above Italy!
Our program features 17th music from both sides of the Alps, and includes very rarely played sonatas by Matthias Weckmann from Hamburg in North Germany for cornettino, sackbut, violin and basso continuo to Castello’s experimental Venetian sonatas for equally mixed ensembles. Obviously, the trip across the musical mountains will be as adventurous today as it was back in the day!
Program
Matthias Weckmann Sonatas
Dario Castello Sonatas
J.H.Schmelzer Sonatas
H. Schütz Funeral song
B.Strozzi Songs
FESTIVAL
Sunday, November 8, 3:00PM
Pre Concert Talk 2:30PM
The Nightingale and Angels
- Matthias Maute, recorder
- Josephine van Lier, viola da gamba
- Christopher Bagan, harpsichord
The nightingale has inspired musicians for centuries, its song imitated and transformed into music. Matthias Maute (recorders), Josephine van Lier (cello and viola da gamba), and Christopher Bagan (harpsichord) explore music from across Baroque Europe, with works for recorder, cello, viola da gamba and harpsichord, both together and on their own.
The Nightingale and Angels brings together three musicians in a wonderful program full of variety and character.
FESTIVAL Community event
Saturday, November 7, 2026 – 9:30 AM: Renaissance reading workshop (FREE).
A fun, no-pressure morning of playing through music from the Renaissance for community musicians.
Session leader: Miriam Ferguson
FESTIVAL Community event
Saturday, November 7, 2026 – 9:30 AM: Renaissance singing workshop (FREE)
A drop-in singing session. A fun, no-pressure morning of singing music from the Renaissance for community singers. Including tips and tricks to help any level of singer improve their sight singing.
Session leader: Jolaine Kerley
FESTIVAL Community event
Saturday, November 7, 2026 – 12:00 Noon: Community Historical dance workshop with live music (FREE)
Participants will learn a series of historical dances from instructor Cath Jackel, then finish by dancing them to live music performed by the Borealis Renaissance Consort. This session is designed for beginners, and prior experience is not necessary. You can register singly – no partner required.
Session Leader Cath Jackel
Live music: Borealis Consort
FESTIVAL Community event
Saturday, November 7, 2026 – 3:00 PM: Community concert featuring local early music ensembles
A great afternoon featuring ensembles from our wonderful community
2026-2027 SEASON CONCERTS
MEMBERSHIP INCLUDED
when purchasing a 2026-2027 Season Pass
before or during the the 2026 Early Music Festival
Members get exclusive access to these previously recorded concerts from previous seasons.
Almost all previous performances since 2011 are available.
Full length concerts and almost 250 individual pieces.
Go to https://www.earlymusicalberta.ca/for-members/ and select your concert.
Sunday, January 31, 2027, 3:00 PM
Charpentier:
Méditations pour le Carême
- Ian Bannerman, tenor
Timothy Schantz, tenor
Roderick Bryce, tenor
Josephine van Lier, viola da gamba
Christopher Bagan, organ
An intimate French Baroque program centered on Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s expressive Méditations pour le Carême, written for three male voices with viol and continuo. These remarkable works set scenes from the Passion in music that is direct, dramatic, and deeply personal.
The unusual combination of three tenors, viola da gamba, and organ creates a rich and intimate sound, bringing Charpentier’s writing and his sensitivity to the text to the foreground.
From the reflections of Lent, the program moves toward Easter, closing with Charpentier’s joyful setting of the ancient Easter prose Victimae paschali laudes.
Saturday, March 6, 2027, 7:30 PM
The Amsterdam Publishing House:
Music of the Dutch & North German Baroque
- Keith Hamm, baroque violin
Josephine van Lier, baroque cello
TBA, harpsichord
In the 17th century, Amsterdam was one of Europe’s great centres of music publishing. Music printed there travelled far beyond the Dutch Republic, connecting composers, performers, and musical traditions across northern Europe.
The Amsterdam Publishing House explores this world through chamber music by Dutch and North German composers, including Carolus Hacquart, Johannes Schenck, and Dietrich Buxtehude. Their music reflects the remarkable exchange of ideas that took place across borders, and the important role Amsterdam’s publishers played in bringing this music into homes and courts throughout Europe.
This program offers a glimpse into a musical world in which the printed page helped music travel.
Saturday, April 10, 2027, 7:30 PM
The Emperor’s Vault
- Frédéric Payant, baroque trumpet
Naomi Delafield, baroque violin
Josephine van Lier, baroque cello
TBA, harpsichord
The courts of the Habsburg Empire were home to some of the most inventive instrumental music of the 17th century. Much of this music survives in the remarkable collections preserved at Kroměříž and Vienna, offering a window into the musical life of the imperial court and its surrounding circles.
The Emperor’s Vault features music by Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, and Pavel Josef Vejvanovský, from intimate chamber music to the brilliant trumpet writing heard at the Habsburg courts.
A program drawn from one of the richest surviving collections of music from the Habsburg world.
This program offers a glimpse into a musical world in which the printed page helped music travel.
Saturday, May 15, 2027, 7:30 PM
Romantic Cello and Fortepiano:
Music by Women Composers
- Josephine van Lier, cello
Leanne Regehr, fortepiano
The 19th century produced a remarkable generation of women composers whose music was performed and admired in their own time, but has not always found a lasting place in the concert repertoire.
This program brings together chamber music by Emilie Mayer, Fanny Hensel, and Clara Schumann, three very different musical voices of the Romantic era. Performed on period instruments, the program explores their music through the sound world and performance practices of their own time.
Sunday, May 30, 2027, 3:00 PM
Outreach Concert in Jasper
- Josephine van Lier, cello
TBA
Program TBA
PAST CONCERTS
