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    • ENSEMBLES

    Baroque Sinfonia

     Founded in 1986 by James Tyler, USC Thornton Baroque Sinfonia is an ensemble of period instruments and voices specializing in music from the late 16th through the mid-18th centuries.

    Students perform onstage, with string players foregrounded.

    About

    USC Baroque Sinfonia consists primarily of graduate students majoring in early music; graduate students of modern instruments; and vocal arts students minoring in early music. A small but growing number of undergraduate students also participate in four different programs each year. Most members also perform in the USC Collegium Workshop, devoted to medieval and Renaissance music.

    With the support of scholarships from the Colburn Foundation and funds from the USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute, the USC Thornton Baroque Sinfonia has won the Early Music America Collegium Grant in 2008 and every year from 2011 to 2022, traveling to the Berkeley, Boston, and Bloomington Early Music Festivals.

    Ensemble Information

    The USC Thornton Baroque Sinfonia is led by early music program director Adam Gilbert and early music specialist Rotem Gilbert.

    Adam Gilbert poses with an early music instrument.

    Adam Knight Gilbert is one of the premier international players of the Renaissance shawm. He is the director of USC Thornton’s Early Music department & Musicology program chair. Gilbert gives master classes internationally and is adjunct faculty at Holland’s Tilburg Conservatorium.

    Rotem Gilbert performs on an early music instrument.

    USC Thornton Vice Dean of Research and Scholarly Studies Rotem Gilbert is a native of Haifa, Israel and a founding member of Ciaramella: an ensemble specializing in music of the 15th and 16th centuries. Gilbert can be heard on Deutsche Grammophon’s Archiv; Passacaille; and Naxos, among other labels.

    Baroque Sinfonia is under the auspices of the USC Thornton Early Music Performance graduate degree program. It engages players in historical improvisation, notation, and composition through hands-on practice.

    Ensemble Performances

    In addition to concerts produced annually at USC, Baroque Sinfonia has a robust history of recording and touring. Its performances have been heard on National Public Radio and the sinfonia’s recording of British broadside ballads “D’ye Hear the News,” was released by Yale University Press.

    USC Thornton student holding a lute in an empty library.

    Stay Connected

    Visit our season’s calendar of events for upcoming performances at the School of Music, including Baroque Sinfonia, or join us on social media for @USCThornton content.

    EVENT CALENDAR