Early Music in the 21st Century

How can the early music movement move into the future? Could this be a transformative moment for change and growth? In this collection of essays, a diverse group of young and established voices from across the globe offers exciting, positive, and challenging thoughts about how we can reimagine the early music movement in this new century.

Nicholas Kenyon’s preface is followed by sixteen chapters written by performers, scholars, and pedagogues. They introduce new ways to conduct research, discuss various performative issues, offer numerous educational directions and exciting technological tools, and-perhaps most importantly-suggest ways we can engage with the present as well as with the past. These chapters include material that has been translated into English for the first time and are presented under Methodological Viewpoints, (Non) Historical Instruments, Pedagogical Perspectives, Transformative Technologies, and Revisiting History. An accompanying website provides additional audio and video material.

This post-revival period for the early music movement is crucial for its enduring success. How can a revival movement that looks to the past for inspiration engage with today’s social and technological concerns? Early Music in the 21st Century asks important questions for everyone interested in early music--performers, teachers, academics, instrument makers, historians, and music lovers. By encouraging a return to the revolutionary spirit of the pioneering generations, this book offers a plethora of positive possibilities for the future of early music.

Mimi Mitchell enjoys a dual career as a musicologist and a historical violinist. She was co-curator of the symposium The Historical Violin (STIMU, Utrecht Early Music Festival, 2019) and curated the conference Early Music in the 21st Century (Conservatorium van Amsterdam, 2021). She has contributed chapters to Writing about Contemporary Musicians: Promotion, Advocacy, Disinterest, Censure and the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna’s The Collection of Historic Musical Instruments: The First 100 Years. She is a Masters Research Coordinator and Senior Lecturer at the Conservatory of Amsterdam and works internationally as a speaker, teacher, performer/conductor, and coach.