Early Music Vancouver
Suzie LeBlanc.
Alexander Weimann.
Under the leadership of Artistic/Executive Director and internationally acclaimed soprano Suzie LeBlanc, C.M., Early Music Vancouver (EMV) has been a much-loved and vital contributor to Vancouver’s cultural scene for more than 50 years. EMV presents a packed performance calendar 40+ live performances and digital concerts a year featuring some of the most renowned artists in the early-music genre drawn from all parts of the globe.
In addition, Early Music Vancouver presents an annual week-long festival in the summer (including an artist-in-residence component), produces Notations (a series of informative behind-the-scenes podcasts), and presents online courses.
EMV also offers a Baroque Orchestra Mentorship Programme, plus a BC Scholarship Programme for professional-track music students or active professional musicians seeking to develop skills in early music performance. These initiatives are aimed at increasing the long-term sustainability of the regional period instrument scene in B.C.
The Pacific Baroque Orchestra (PBO) is EMV's ‘house band.’ Under the direction of Alexander Weimann, PBO is recognized as one of Canada’s most exciting and innovative early music ensembles. It also tours extensively throughout the Canada and the U.S.
The phrase “early music” often refers to European music from the Medieval period through to the Baroque (about 1800). At EMV, it also encompasses music from outside the western European tradition to that of other cultures within the same period—Tang Dynasty China and the Ottoman and Persian empires, for instance. EMV also explores music from the 19th century with historically informed performances on its restored fortepianos—re-creating the original sound of the music as the composer heard it. This approach invites discovery—the joy of hearing something beautiful for the first time or in a fresh way. It fosters immersive learning about history and human culture. It provides opportunities for empathetic encounter, seeking to understand and contextualize how musicians and audiences of different times and places have interacted with music. Most of all, it encourages curiosity from both performers and listeners alike.
Over the years, EMV has collected a valuable collection of unique historical instruments. This collection benefits many musicians and established cultural institutions in our region, and allows EMV to produce concerts of seldom-heard repertoire that requires specialized instruments. EMV’s collection includes a replica of an 1819 Graf Piano built by Paul McNulty, an 1875 Broadwood Piano donated by Patricia Lee, a double-manual French harpsichord after Taskin built by Edward Turner and donated by Carol Brauner, a large Italian single-manual harpsichord built by Craig Tomlinson, a Flemish “mother and child” double virginal built by José Verstappen, a chamber organ built by Helmuth Wolff, a set of baroque timpani, a baroque viola and a baroque cello, four Renaissance lutes built by Tony Simmonds, and more.
EMV concerts offer a platform for cross-cultural dialogue and exploration of diverse perspectives and relationships with the past. Live performances take place at venues such as Christ Church Cathedral, the Chan Centre, St. Andrew's Wesley United Church, and Pacific Spirit United Church.
Pacific Baroque Orchestra. Concerto d’Amore-Overcoming Rivalry. Photo by Jan Gates
Find Early Music Vancouver at:
Hodson Manor
1254 West 7th Avenue
Vancouver, B.C.
V6H 1B6