The Boston Early Music Festival (BEMF) was held June 8-15, 2025. Since 1981, the Boston Early Music Festival has established itself as an international leader in the field of Early Music. BEMF presents a wealth of diverse programs and activities, including superb productions of Baroque opera, award-winning recordings, an annual concert season that brings the field’s brightest stars to Boston and New York City, and North America’s leading festival for Early Music. This year's festival theme was "Love and Power."
The American Recorder Society’s Recorder Relay is always a must-attend event at BEMF. Featuring local recorder players and groups, as well as visiting players from around the world, this event was held on Friday, June 13, from 10am-2pm, in the Mary Norton Hall in the Old South Church, 645 Boylston St. This celebration of the recorder community was, as always, replete with terrific performances and a fascinating variety of styles and interpretations. The ARS Distinguished Achievement Award was given to recorder maker Patrick von Huene at the conclusion of the concert, and Barbara Prescott was presented with the ARS Presidential Special Honor Award.
The Recorder Relay is always free and open to the general public. Performers are not compensated, but it truly is a fun chance to gather as a community and share our collective talents and passions. Many thanks to all the volunteers who helped make the Recorder Relay and Awards Presentation happen: first and foremost Bonnie Kelly, as well as ARS Board member Jamie Allen. And congratulations to Patrick and Barbara, our honorees!
BEMF Beyond Borders Concert, co-sponsored by ARS On Sunday, June 15, a concert featuring young musicians from the local Boston area as well as from Taiwan and Brazil was held in Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory of Music. Spearheaded by recorder professionals Nina Stern and Clea Galhano, this was an exciting event showcasing the talents of young musicians who performed together in a celebration of musical collaboration and diversity. Short performance videos submitted by other international youth recorder groups were featured as well. Afterward, the award-winning Boreas Quartett Bremen, a fantastic recorder group based in Germany, performed a stunning concert.
A Recorder Masterclass was held at the New England Conservatory; the Boreas Quartett Bremen coached individuals and groups as they performed a prepared piece. Auditors were welcome to attend. This was educational and entertaining for all who attended.
The BEMF Exhibition The heart of the Boston Early Music Festival is its world-famous Exhibition. As the premier Early Music trade show in North America and among the largest in the world, the BEMF Exhibition features Early Music tradespeople from across the globe, with makers of period instruments, music publishers, dealers in rare books, prints, and manuscripts, and representatives from the world’s leading conservatories and schools of music. ARS was present with a table featuring membership materials, samples of magazines and ARS-published music, as well as our usual array of ARS-branded swag (pencils and toothbrushes).
Read here about three young people from New Jersey who performed as part of Montclair Early Music's RecorderKids program.
Following the 2023 Relay, there was a reception and presentation of the ARS Distinguished Achievement Award honoring Nina Stern, and Presidential Special Honor Award honoring Clea Gahlano. The two professionals favored the Relay audience by playing two duets. One of them, the Vivace from G.Ph. Telemann’s Canonic Sonata No. 1 in B flat major, can be viewed on the ARS YouTube channel here.
2023 Relay, there was a reception and presentation of the ARS Distinguished Achievement Award honoring