Opening Performance: Cantatas for Trinity Sunday
The 2025 Five Cities Baroque Festival will open with a special musical Mass at the Chapel of St. John the Divine in Champaign, featuring two of Bach’s cantatas for Trinity Sunday, O heilges Geist- und Wasserbad and Es ist ein trotzig und verzagt Ding.
An Evening of Chamber Music
Five of the region’s finest Baroque musicians will present a program of chamber music commemorating the musical activities that took place at the court of Frederick the Great of Prussia, with works by Bach, Telemann, Quantz, Graun, and Janitsch.
Recital: Five Cities Baroque Young Artists
Our talented Young Artists—Jorie Clark, Soprano, Emily Wheeler, Mezzo-Soprano, Filip Duda, Tenor, and Justin Daley, Baritone—will give a recital of Baroque music, accompanied by Harpsichordist Max Holman and Cellist Isidora Nojkovic.
Resident Artist Recital: Filigree Ensemble
This year’s Artists in Residence, Filigree Ensemble, will give a recital, accompanied by theorbist Jeff Noonan, at St. John’s Episcopal Church of Decatur. Reception to follow.
Jazz & the Baroque: A Juneteenth Celebration
The Millikin Faculty Jazz Quintet will premiere a jazz arrangement of Bach’s Cantata 140, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, in honor of Juneteenth.
Five Cities Baroque Youth Academy: Music for the Sun King
The 2025 Five Cities Baroque Youth Academy will culminate with a concert of music from the court of the Sun King, Louis XIV of France, to celebrate the Summer Solstice.
Keynote Concert: Mozart & Martines
The 2025 Five Cities Baroque Festival will close with a performance of two magnificent but seldom-heard works—Marianna Martines’s Dixit Dominus and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Davide Penitente—at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield.
Keynote Concert: Bach's St. John Passion
The 2024 Five Cities Baroque Festival will close with a performance of the 1724 version of Bach’s titanic St. John Passion to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the work, featuring Mike Williams as the Evangelist and Alan Held as Jesus.
Five Cities Baroque Youth Academy: Closing Concert
The first Five Cities Baroque Youth Academy will culminate with a concert to kick off closing weekend of the Festival.
Stephen Buzard in Recital
Guest Artist Stephen Buzard will return to the Five Cities Baroque Festival to give a recital of organ music at the Chapel of St. John the Divine in Champaign.
From Baroque to Jazz: A Juneteenth Celebration
Five Cities Baroque Board Member William McClain will give a presentation on the connections between Baroque music and jazz and the legacy that 18th-century music has left through the work of the Black musical community.
Vocal Recital: Barbara Strozzi and her World
Sopranos Katherine Buzard and Andréa Walker and mezzo-sopranos Gabrielle Timofeeva López and Aubrey Hawkinson will present a program of music by Barbara Strozzi and Claudio Monteverdi, accompanied by continuists Max Holman and Amy Catron.
Masterclass: Alan Held
Alan Held will give a vocal masterclass to four young professional singers: Jorie Clark, Emily Wheeler, Adam Miller, and David Gartner.
Opening Recital: Lillian Gordis
Lillian Gordis opens the 2024 Five Cities Baroque Festival with a recital of harpsichord music at the Chapel of St. John the Divine in Champaign.
Keynote Concert: Bach & Zelenka
The 2023 Festival will close with a performance of Bach’s Cantata 42 and the North American premiere of Jan Dismas Zelenka’s Litaniae Omnium Sanctorum, ZWV 153. Reception to follow. Admission is free; donations will be accepted.
An Afternoon of Chamber Music
The Festival Orchestra will gather to give a concert of chamber music, featuring works by Joseph Bologne, Franz Biber, Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Arcangelo Corelli, and J.S. Bach, at St. John’s Episcopal Church of Decatur. Reception to follow. Admission is free; donations will be accepted.
Opening Concert: Stephen Buzard in Recital
Organist Stephen Buzard will open the 2023 Festival with a concert of music by J.S. Bach on the Baroque-style organ at Decatur First United Methodist Church. Reception to follow. Admission is free; donations will be accepted.