Infusion Baroque draws new audiences to early music through a truly captivating concert experience, deftly combining seasoned musicianship with theatrical elements. Playing music ranging from the seventeenth to twentieth centuries on historical instruments, the four women of Infusion Baroque enthrall audiences across North America with their creative and interactive programming.
Founded in 2013, Infusion Baroque won the Grand Prize and Audience Prize at the Early Music America’s Baroque Performance Competition in 2014. Since then, they have performed extensively in North America with series such as the Montreal Baroque Festival, Ottawa Chamberfest, Stratford Summer Music, Early Music Now (Milwaukee), San Francisco Early Music Society, Indianapolis Early Music, Houston Early Music, and the Gotham Early Music Scene in New York City. In 2024 they are slated to make their South American debut at the Teatro Mayor in Bogotá, Colombia. Their performances have been described as “dynamic and alive” (Early Music America) with “polish, energy, and finely-honed style … merrily breaking established traditions” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). They have released three albums with the Canadian label Leaf Music to critical acclaim.
Infusion Baroque’s research and creative programs highlight not only important figures of the past, but also relatively unknown composers and musicians and new frontiers in historical performance practice. The ensemble’s debut recording, 1747, is a collection of trio sonatas for flute, violin, and basso continuo by C.P.E. Bach. It reached #3 on the iTunes Classical Music chart and was described as “real baroque … gripping and full of character” (Radio-Canada). Their second album, Kreüsser, features world-premiere recordings of Georg Anton Kreüsser’s Op. 10 Quintettos, and was nominated for a Prix Opus Album of the Year. According to Fanfare, “the playing of these musicians…is superb. They play with a liveliness and unforced energy that seems to grow naturally out of the music… combining spontaneity and abandon with technical perfection.” Early Music America commended Infusion Baroque’s “elegance and refinement … alongside a lovely sense of wit, pathos, and verve”.
Since 2017, one of Infusion Baroque’s main initiatives has been “The Virtuosa Project,” a series of concerts, lectures, videos, and recordings highlighting historical female musicians. The ensemble has produced two web series – The Virtuosa Series (which tells the stories of four women performers of the Baroque and Romantic eras), and #virtuELLES (about women making music at home in historical and contemporary circumstances). Their third album, Virtuosa, consists of works composed or performed by women from the 17th to 21st centuries, and reached over 500K streams within the first six months of release. According to La Scena Musicale, “With its polished textures and resolutely dynamic but refined interpretations, [the album] unfolds in sprawling movements, as explosive as they are contemplative.”
Their latest project, East is East, began in 2022 and is a transcultural collaboration that offers a modern perspective on the 18th-century European approach to music from the East. Their new album of the same name, released in March 2024, explores common musical practices between the East and West, featuring old and new music with roots in Iran, India, and Europe. Infusion Baroque is joined by guest artists Amir Amiri (santur), Vidita Kanniks (soprano), Hamin Honari (tombak and daf), Shawn Mativetsky (tabla), Thibault Bertin-Maghit (double bass) and Hank Knox (harpsichord).
