ABO LEADERSHIP

Julie Andrijeski (violin) is a performer, scholar, and teacher of early music and dance. In addition to her Artistic Directorship of the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, she is Co-Director of the New York-based early music ensemble Quicksilver, Principal Player with Apollo’s Fire (with whom she won a Grammy in 2018) and Les Délices, and frequently performs with diverse early music groups across the nation and abroad. As a faculty member in the Music Department at Case Western Reserve University, she teaches early music performance practices and directs the Baroque Music and Dance Ensembles. Additionally, she is Teacher of Baroque Violin at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Special teaching engagements include a bi-annual residency at the Juilliard School and invitations to lead workshops at learning institutions, most recently the Oberlin Conservatory, Peabody Conservatory, Indiana University, and the University of Michigan. 

A native of Boise, Idaho, Andrijeski holds a doctoral degree in Early Music from CWRU, and violin performance degrees from Northwestern University (M.M.) and the University of Denver (B.M.). Her recordings can be found on Acis Productions, Dorian Recordings, Avie, Koch, Centaur, and Musica Omnia as well as on independent labels.  In 2016 she was awarded a Creative Workforce Fellowship from Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Arts and Culture and the Thomas Binkley Award from Early Music America in recognition for her outstanding achievement in performance and scholarship as an ensemble director.

The Atlanta Baroque Orchestra is composed of top-notch artists adept at ensemble playing, and often emerging as soloists within the group. Much of the repertoire requires such talent from all of its members due to small performance forces (typically not more than sixteen musicians). In lieu of a conductor, the group performs as one organism, each player contributing to the whole that is suggestively steered by lead violinist Julie Andrijeski.

The ABO consists of a small core of musicians who live in the Atlanta area, supplemented by guest performers and featured soloists from throughout the United States and the world. The Orchestra often supplements its strong base with guest artists specializing in historically-informed Baroque performance.

In addition to its intimate yet powerful performing forces, the Orchestra’s venues are cozy compared to typical concert halls. This close proximity helps to break down the barrier between musicians and their audiences, creating a sense of cooperative interaction.

Members perform on instruments made in the Baroque era, about 1600-1750, restored to their original setups, or on authentic replicas. The string instruments, fitted with gut rather than steel strings, are played with bows of an earlier design. This allows tones and articulations that differ from “modern” instruments. Horns and trumpets have no valves. Flutes are made of wood. The harpsichord, lute, and a portable pipe organ stand in for today's piano and guitar. But, the tuning is different. Most importantly, our musicians have ample room for improvisation and a great deal more individual expression than what is tolerated in a conventional symphony orchestra.