Historical Performance Institute IU-JSoM

11/03/2025

Coming right up!

Here is our schedule for our Back to Bach conference which is happening in just a couple weeks. If you would like to register, please email Hayden Ives-Glasgow ([email protected]). All events are free!

10/27/2025

We are delighted to welcome countertenor Reginald Mobley this week as our Five Friends Master-Class Series Guest Artist!

10/24/2025

The joy of shape notes! Join this vibrant Bloomington community in an uplifting session.

10/17/2025

More news on Danqi Zeng's Grand Prize from The Strad...

The The Lillian and Maurice Barbash J.S. Bach Competition top prize of $10,000 and future performance engagements went to baroque violinist Danqi Zeng. Link in comments 🎻

10/16/2025

We’re immensely proud of Danqi Zeng! Congratulations!! 🎉🎊🎈

Congratulations to Danqi Zeng, Grand Prize Winner of the 2025 Lillian and Maurice Barbash J.S. Bach Competiton.
Listen to the Finals on the Violin Channel.

10/14/2025

Good luck, Danqi Zeng!

The Lillian and Maurice Barbash J.S. Bach Competition will be held at Stony Brook University’s Staller Center Recital Hall, in Long Island, New York, at 1:00 PM on Thursday, October 16, 2025, and will be streamed live on the Violin Channel. Read more here: https://theviolinchannel.com/the-lillian-and-maurice-barbash-j-s-bach-competition-announces-four-finalists/

09/28/2025

We have a full slate of events this coming week for Gibbons Fest 400, commemorating the 400th anniversary of the composer's death. Most notably, legendary early music figure William Hunt will be in town - see below!

09/28/2025

TODAY! Join us for the first Baroque Orchestra concert of the year, directed by Ingrid Matthews! 4:00 PM in Auer Hall, featuring music from 17th century Venice.

09/15/2025

Join us in welcoming one of our fabulous new HP majors, Bryce Elliot Zimmerman!

Atlanta countertenor Bryce Elliot Zimmerman has performed as Prince Athamus in Handel's Semele, was a soloist in Marazzoli's Oh Messtisime Jesu, Carissimi's Jonas, portrayed Cupid in Blow's Venus and Adonis, Prince and served as soloist in Bach's Cantata No. 12, and Handel's Dixit Dominus. His voice, described as "what a plum would sound like," blends warmth and ethereal qualities as well as accessing different colors. Bryce is currently pursuing his second year of Master's in Historical Performance at the Jacobs School of Music under Thomas Cooley. Bryce says: "I am very excited to be in the HPI due to the variety of different performance opportunities inside and outside of the school of music, as well as exploring the different academic courses to add to my tool box."

08/13/2025

Brilliant news today: we're hugely excited to welcome Thomas Cooley to the faculty!

We’re thrilled to welcome Thomas Cooley as Visiting Associate Professor! Professor Cooley is a vocalist specializing in historical performance and is a leading interpreter of Handel and J. S. Bach. He has brought his talents to over 30 U.S. states and to concert halls around the world, and now he will bring them to instructing Jacobs students. Please join us in giving him a warm welcome! 🙌

08/07/2025

Kudos to IU Baroque Violinists, current and former students of Ingrid Matthews!

Congratulations to Danqi Zeng (DM, baroque violin), who has been selected as one of four finalista in the Lillian and Maurice Barbash International Bach Competition! Danqi is the only period-instrumentalist selected among the finalists. The concluding round will take place at SUNY-Stonybrook on October 16.

Many congratulations also due to recent baroque-violin IU alums--Parastoo Heidarinejad and Jimena Burga Lopera--for their work as Baroque Classical Academy Fellows at the Carmel Bach Festival this summer!

07/13/2025

Given recent moves initiated by the Indiana state legislature, over 400 academic programs within the state’s higher education sector have been eliminated or suspended—116 of these on the IU Bloomington campus alone. Many of you will doubtless have heard by now that all degree programs in our HP department are to be discontinued. This fall, however, we will welcome a highly talented cohort of six graduate students who will take on their studies as the final beneficiaries of these programs, precisely as they have always been offered. The department, therefore, will continue to operate, as ever, over the next two years.

In contrast with the HP department, the Historical Performance Institute will retain its place, expand further its range of work, and continue to act as the coordinating hub of HP throughout the greater Jacobs school. Moreover, ensembles will also continue as they always have. Over the past academic year, more than 120 students from outside the HP department in other major areas have participated integrally in our work.

Especially at this precise moment in time, the HP faculty, both full and part-time, will be highly grateful for your moral support and positive encouragement during this seismic shift. While hundreds of academic programs have been cut across the state, the HPI will very fortunately remain.

Although it is too soon to predict publicly with certainty, there are initiatives now going into place whereby lost degree programs could ultimately be provided alternative institutional pathways, either by or before the end of the next two-year “teach out” period. Because of this, it would be premature (in my view) to say that all of our degree programs are lost entirely.

Our faculty are deeply dedicated to providing incoming students with the best possible education and experience, to fortify their development as emerging artists within a field experiencing new waves of professional growth. Your moral support has never been more needed than it is now, and it will be most gratefully received. Dana Marsh, HPI Director