Oberlin Artist Recital Series Presents ACRONYM Baroque Band

The next concert in Oberlin’s Artist Recital Series line-up will be performed by the acclaimed early music ensemble ACRONYM at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 15.  

For the first time in 142 seasons, a concert on this famed series will be held in Oberlin Conservatory’s Warner Concert Hall, the 496-seat stately concert hall designed by architect Minoru Yamasaki and built in 1964. The space is a primary performing venue for Oberlin Conservatory programs.

Founded in 2012 by Oberlin alumni, Baroque band ACRONYM is dedicated to giving modern premieres of the wild instrumental music of the 17th century. They have released ten critically acclaimed full-length recordings since 2014. Recent projects include the first modern performances and recordings of works by Biber, Rosenmüller, and Capricornus. The band’s most recent album, Cantica Obsoleta (2020), features the premiere recordings of nearly-lost works from Sweden’s Düben Collection.

ACRONYM’s founding was the direct result of a doctoral thesis project of Kivie Cahn-Lipman ’01. His experience unearthing buried manuscripts and creating an edition of the early Baroque sonatas of Johann Pezel led ultimately to the central mission of ACRONYM—to discover, transcribe, record, and give modern premieres of long-forgotten music of that era.

For this performance, the group’s first concert on campus since early 2014, they’ll perform their imaginative program “Dreams of the Wounded Musketeer,” about a military trumpeter’s final moments as he relives the swirling music that shaped his life.

The music used to illustrate the life and times of this fictional soldier, was written by a roster of quite well-known, and some much lesser-known, 17th-century composers, including Heinrich Biber (1644-1704), whose programmatic battle piece Battalia, served as inspiration for the story.  

A nine-member ensemble for this performance includes Cynthia Black, violin and viola; Kyle Miller, viola; Doug Balliett, violone; Joshua Stauffer, theorbo; and Elliot Figg, harpsichord and organ. The Oberlin Conservatory alumni performing on this program include Grammy winning violinist Johanna Novom ’07, tenor viol player Cahn-Lipman, Loren Ludwig '99, bass viol, and Oberlin’s newly appointed Visiting Assistant Professor of Baroque Violin, Edwin Huizinga ’06.

Huizinga thrives in both Baroque and modern repertoire. He has toured throughout North America, Europe, and Asia with Tafelmusik, Opera Atelier, the Wallfisch Band, Aradia Ensemble, Apollo’s Fire, and Theater of Early Music. He has also served as guest director of the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, as a guest artist with I FURIOSI Baroque Ensemble, and as guest concertmaster with the New Dutch Academy and the Kansas City Baroque Orchestra. 

As part of this short residency, Novom and Cahn-Lipman will lead public master classes in Baroque violin and Baroque cello for Oberlin students at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, November 14.

CONCERT DETAILS
ACRONYM
Tuesday, November 15 at 7:30 p.m.
Warner Concert Hall
77 W. College St.

Oberlin, OH 44074

TICKETS
Individual tickets for ACRONYM’s performance are $35 for the general public. Discounted tickets are $30 for senior citizens, military, and Oberlin College staff, faculty, and alumni. Student admission is just $10.

They are available online and by phone at 800-371-0178. Patrons may also purchase them in person between noon and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, at Oberlin College's Central Ticket Service, located at 67 N. Main Street, in the lobby of the Eric Baker Nord Performing Arts Complex.