A Baroque chamber orchestra, in the modern era, is tasked with breathing new life into music all but banished to a museum. This is what the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra can do! Our musicians draw on years of academic research and scholarship to restore the music to its original, authentic style. And we never lose sight of the joyful and spiritual experience of playing this music for you.

It swings. It grooves. It rocks. No, it gigues!

When Artistic Director Julie Andrijeski strikes up the band, the Orchestra comes to life with vitality and irrepressible joie de vivre. The musicians move, meaningfully. In the audience, heads bob. Toes tap (softly) to Handel, Corelli, Bach, Scarlatti, Vivaldi. . . From instrumental suites and concertos, to vocal and choral cantatas, to solo or ensemble chamber works, the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra makes the music breathe, dance, soar.

ABO LEADERSHIP

JULIE ANDRIJESKI | ARTISTIC DIRECTOR & CONCERTMASTER

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.

JULIE ANDRIJESKI | ARTISTIC DIRECTOR & CONCERTMASTER

OUR MUSICIANS

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.

THE HISTORY

Founded in Atlanta, Georgia, the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra has been performing continuously since 1998 and remains preeminent in the early music movement. This year, we are celebrating our 27th Season! The ABO is the first and oldest professional orchestra in the Southeastern United States dedicated to the historically-informed performance (also called "authentic performance practice") of Baroque music on period instruments.

Guest artists have included: Stanley Ritchie, Monica Huggett, Sergiu Luca, and Dana Maiben, violinists; Paul O’Dette, lute; Aldo Abreu, recorder; Julianne Baird, Arietha Lockhart, and Judith Overcash, sopranos; Stephen Rickards, countertenor; the late Matthew Peaceman, oboist; and Paige Whitley-Bauguess and Thomas Baird, Baroque dancers.

While on the faculty of Clayton State University, director and lutenist Lyle Nordstrom founded the Orchestra in collaboration with a core group of university faculty from music schools throughout the Southeast. Distinguished early music pioneer John Hsu served as the ABO's second Artistic Director from 2006 through 2008; Atlanta’s Daniel Pyle served as Resident Director until Julie Andrijeski’s arrival in 2011.

Signatory achievements of the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra include the first performances in Atlanta on period instruments of:

Vivaldi's The Four Seasons at Clayton State University's Spivey Hall. (September 27, 1998)
J. S. Bach's Passion according to St. John at Emory University. (November 11, 2000)
Handel's Messiah. (November 23, 2002)
Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Te Deum, using a new orchestration completed by musicologist Charles Brewer. (November 16, 2001)
A year-long celebration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Mozart (2006), as well as the 300th anniversary of the birth of Haydn (2009).

In 2016, the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra became Artists-in-Residence at the Cathedral of St. Philip. This partnership provides the ABO with a glorious performance space, as well as the opportunity to perform with the magnificent Cathedral choirs under the direction of Dr. Dale Adelmann.

The Atlanta Baroque Orchestra is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization as recognized by the State of Georgia and the United States of America. All donations are tax-deductible.