The Boston Camerata is an early music ensemble based in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. It was founded in 1954 by Narcissa Williamson, at the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

, as an adjunct to that museum's musical instrument collection. The Camerata incorporated as an independent nonprofit in 1974. It was directed from 1969 to 2008 by Joel Cohen, who remains Music Director Emeritus. Since 2008, the company's artistic director has been French-born singer and scholar Anne Azéma. Azéma has produced several new programs with the Camerata, featuring repertoire that spans eight centuries of music. The Camerata has a regular subscription series for Boston-area residents, as well as tours in the United States and abroad. In 2011, Camerata was in residence in

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, contributing five programs of medieval French music to the 800th anniversary celebration of the

Reims Cathedral , image = Reims Kathedrale.jpg , imagealt = Facade, looking northeast , caption = Façade of the cathedral, looking northeast , pushpin map = France , pushpin map alt = Location within France , ...

. Recently, the ensemble has appeared in Paris at the Palais de Chaillot in collaboration with the Tero Saarinen Company of Helsinki, Finland (2014), at the Théatre de Ville during its 60th anniversary season (2015), and at La Philharmonie de Paris (2018). ''The Night's Tale'', Azéma's innovative staged production built around a medieval tournament in France, was first presented in France and Luxembourg in 2007. It has since been performed in Boston to great acclaim in Spring 2016 and will tour in the US in 2020. The company's South American début tour took place in Brazil in July, 2016. In 2017 and 2018, the Camerata toured in Switzerland, Holland, and France and Canada and the US Midwest, including a reprise of the ''Play of Daniel'', first presented to Boston audiences in late 2014. The Camerata's recordings include programs on

Harmonia Mundi Harmonia Mundi is an independent record label which specializes in classical music, jazz, and world music (on the World Village label). It was founded in France in 1958 and is now a subsidiary of PIAS Entertainment Group. Its Latin name ''h ...

Erato In Greek mythology, Erato (; grc, Ἐρατώ) is one of the Greek Muses, which were inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. The name would mean "desired" or "lovely", if derived from the same root as Eros, as Apollonius ...

Telefunken Telefunken was a German radio and television apparatus company, founded in Berlin in 1903, as a joint venture of Siemens & Halske and the ''Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft'' (AEG) ('General electricity company'). The name "Telefunken" app ...

, and

Warner Classics Warner Classics is the classical music arm of Warner Music Group. The label began issuing new recordings under the Warner Classics banner in 1991. The company also includes the Erato Records, Teldec Records and NVC Arts labels. Based in France, ...

. Among the ensemble's awards are the

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(1987), awarded for a medieval version of the Tristan and Iseult legend. Other media projects include two prizes at FIFA Montréal, 2014. It has undertaken museum and educational projects including a visiting artist residency at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern t ...

, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, and The Metropolitan Museum Cloisters Concerts. It has collaborated with local choirs, both children and adults.

References

External links

Archival footage of the Boston Camerata performing with Tero Saarinen Company at Jacob's Pillow, 7/20/2004
{{authority control Early music groups Musical groups established in 1954 Musical groups from Boston American classical music groups 1954 establishments in Massachusetts