Described as “one of the discoveries” of the 2001 early music festival in Regensburg, Germany, Musicians of the Old Post Road has been captivating audiences in the US and abroad with its exciting programming and virtuoso performances. As a chamber ensemble specializing in the period instrument performance of music from the Baroque, Classical, and early Romantic periods, the ensemble specializes in offering a dynamic and diverse repertory that includes “rediscovered” works that have been lost to audiences for centuries. Recently, the group’s French Baroque Noël program was commended by the Boston Globe for presenting the regional premiere of a work by Charpentier that is “nothing less than a masterpiece.”
Winner of the 1998 Noah Greenberg Award from the American Musicological Society, Musicians of the Old Post Road has also received programming awards from Chamber Music America and the US–Mexico Fund for Culture. The group was in residence at Dartmouth College in April, 2005. The ensemble has toured in Germany, Austria, Mexico, and has appeared at festivals and on concert series in the U.S., including the Boston Early Music Festival Concert Series, the Castle Hill Festival, and the Artists Series at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. MOPR has also been commissioned to create programs to complement exhibits at the Yale Museum for British Art and the MIT Museum.
The ensemble’s discography includes four recordings that have each been praised in the US and abroad. They include The Virtuoso Double Bass (Titanic, 1994), Trios and Scottish Song Settings of J. N. Hummel (Meridian, 1999), Galant with an Attitude: Music of Juan and José Pla (Meridian, 2000), and Telemann & Bodinus Quartets (Meridian, 2003).Programming is distinguished by an exciting freshness, innovation, and the use of imaginative themes. While offering audiences well-loved works of the most celebrated composers, MOPR is dedicated to rediscovering chamber pieces and arrangements that have been lost to audiences for centuries. As performers of a variety of period wind, string, and keyboard instruments, the versatility of the ensemble members affords a broad spectrum of repertory with rich coloristic possibilities provided by bountiful instrumental combinations. Program notes are provided for every concert, and ensemble members are pleased to speak about the instruments and repertory if desired.
In addition to formal concerts, Musicians of the Old Post Road has presented a variety of educational programs, including lecture demonstrations, workshops on Baroque improvisation and other topics, as well as masterclasses. The group has held mini-residencies at Berwick Academy in southern Maine and at the Roland Hayes Division of Music at Madison Park High School in Boston. The ensemble is available for residencies, masterclasses (individual instruments or chamber music), workshops on historical performance, lecture demonstrations, and educational performances for children.
The ensemble takes its name from its acclaimed concert series, originally entitled Old Post Road Historic Concerts, founded in 1989. MOPR’s series brings period instrument performances to historical buildings along the route of the old Boston Post Road, the first “highway” linking Boston and New York City beginning in the 1670s. Concert sites include meetinghouses, churches, mansions, museums and public halls, and the repertory spans the period of the Old Post Road’s prominence, from the late 17th to the mid-19th century.
Biographies of ensemble members
Listen to sound samples!
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Listen to an interview on WFIU Radio with the co-Artistic Directors that aired in advance of our appearence on the Indianapolis Early Music Festival last July.
To contact the ensemble, please e-mail us, call (781) 466-6694, or write to:
Jean Lindsay-Dwyer, General Manager
Musicians of the Old Post Road
318 Bear Hill Road, Suite 9
Waltham, MA 02451
Fax: (781) 487-7790
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