Folger Consort Announces 2026-27 Season of Early Music, Celebrating 50 Years of Musical Excellence

This year's program honors the vision and history of Folger Consort and co-artistic directors Robert Eisenstein and Christopher Kendall

WASHINGTON, April 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Folger Consort, the award-winning early music ensemble-in-residence at the Folger Shakespeare Library, announced its 2026-27 concert series today. The season marks 50 years of Folger Consort under founding directors Robert Eisenstein and Christopher Kendall.

"For more than half a century, Folger Consort has inspired audiences with the music of the early modern world," shared Folger Director Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper. "Due to the passion and commitment of Bob and Christopher, our audiences have gained a deeper understanding and appreciation of the various traditions of European early music. Through their five remarkable decades here, the Consort has established the Folger as a premier venue for early music performance."

The golden anniversary season begins in September with a focus on the musical innovations of composer Claudio Monteverdi in early 17th-century Venice. In December, Folger Consort performs a wide-ranging program of English holiday music from medieval to modern wintry soundscapes. In February, the program brings together global music from West African, Arabic, and European musical storytelling traditions. The final concert in May returns to some of the favorite composers and songs performed on the Folger stage 50 years ago during the Consort's inaugural season.

"For our 2026-2027 Folger Consort season, we're putting together pieces—some that have given us particular delight for 50 years—to create programs of medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music, and also music from other cultures and right up to the present," shared Eisenstein and Kendall. "And for our last program of the season in May, we draw on music performed in our very first year….five decades ago! It's been a wonderful half-century run of music-making at the Folger; planning the new season finds us as enthusiastic as ever. We hope you'll join us for this journey through 500 years of music and 50 years with the Folger Consort!"

Subscription packages to the 2026-27 season of Folger Consort are now on sale starting at $162, 20% off single ticket prices. Subscriptions are available now by contacting the Folger Box Office at (202) 544-7077 or visiting www.folger.edu/subscribe-consort. Discounted subscriptions for patrons under 35 are available for $126. Single tickets will go on sale in the summer.

Selected Folger Consort images are available here: folger.edu/consort-presskit.

FOLGER CONSORT'S 50^TH SEASON

Monteverdi's Legacy

September 11-13, 2026

Folger Consort launches its 50th season with the musical equivalent of a gondola tour through 17th-century Venice, where the innovations of the early Baroque got their start in the City of Canals. Venice was already an established center of church music when Claudio Monteverdi was appointed music director at San Marco in 1613. By the time of his death, 30 years later, Venice was a flourishing home for early opera and chamber music. In this program of virtuosic and expressive music, Folger Consort will perform madrigals, motets, sonatas, and operatic excerpts by Monteverdi and his students and admirers, including Rovetta, Cavalli, and Marini.

An English Christmas for the Ages

December 11-20, 2026

Celebrate the holidays with a centuries-spanning program of medieval Yuletide songs, English Christmas carols, and festive works from the royal courts of both King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I, including beautiful music by composers Thomas Tallis and William Byrd. In a commemorative nod to the 250th anniversary of America's independence, the performance culminates in delightful Christmas anthems by New England composer William Billings.

Folktales and Storied Traditions: Troubadours, Griots, and Hakawatis

February 12-14, 2027

Explore oral histories, heroic sagas, folk tales, and epic romances across the West African, Arabic, and European musical traditions. In this program, Folger Consort traces the narrative and musical connections between West African djali or griots, preservers of oral histories shared through song; Arabic hakawatis, revered storytellers of heroic sagas and folk tales; and medieval Provençal and French singer-poets. Together, these three musical traditions honor the role of music and storytelling in preserving culture and history, while offering distinct takes from their own cultural perspectives.

Folger Consort's Golden Jubilee

May 7-9, 2027

To close this special anniversary season, Folger Consort returns to the music of its very first season, much of which has canonical status in the early music world. Featuring music from the Consort's original ensemble of instrumental quartet and voice, this concert will journey from 13th-century Spain and Portugal through 14th-century Italy and 15th-century Paris and Vienna, and concludes with the music of Elizabethan and Jacobean England, the era of Shakespeare. 

Join us in celebrating Folger Consort and its founders and co-Artistic Directors Robert Eisenstein and Christopher Kendall for this 50th anniversary fête!

Robert Eisenstein 
Artistic Director

Robert Eisenstein has led over 200 productions and performances with Folger Consort over the past 40 years, including Measure + Dido at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Napa Valley Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice at Strathmore, The Fairy Queen, and Hildegard Von Bingen's Ordo Virtutum at the Washington National Cathedral. Recently retired as the Director of the Five College Early Music Program; Music Director for the Five College Opera Project production of Francesca Caccini's La Liberazione di Ruggiero; Mount Holyoke College faculty emeritus, where he taught music history and performed on the viola de gamba, violin, and medieval fiddle. He is an active participant in Five College Medieval Studies. Recipient of Early Music America's Thomas Binkley Award for outstanding achievement in performance and scholarship by the director of a college early music ensemble.

Christopher Kendall
Artistic Director

Christopher Kendall is the founder of the Folger Consort. He is Dean Emeritus of the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance in Ann Arbor. In Washington, in addition to his work with Folger Consort, since 1975 he has been Artistic Director and conductor of the 21st Century Consort, the new music ensemble-in-residence at the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Mr. Kendall served as Director of the University of Maryland School of Music from 1996 to 2005. Associate Conductor of the Seattle Symphony from 1987 to 1992 and Director of the Music Division and Tanglewood Institute of the Boston University School for the Arts from 1993 to 1996, Mr. Kendall has guest conducted many orchestras and ensembles in repertoire from the 18th to the 21st centuries. His recordings can be heard on the Bard, Delos, Nonesuch, Centaur, ASV, Arabesque, Innova, Bridge, and Smithsonian Collection labels.

About Folger Shakespeare Library

The Folger Shakespeare Library showcases the utility of Shakespeare and the humanities in cultivating healthy civic life. Anchored by the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the Folger is also home to a world-renowned collection of books, manuscripts, and prints from the 1500s to the early 1700s. Visitors to the Folger can choose how they want to experience the arts and humanities, from interactive exhibitions to captivating performances, and from pathbreaking research to transformative educational programming. The Folger fosters curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking, and welcomes visitors from Washington, DC and from across the globe. Learn more at folger.edu.

About Folger Consort

For 50 seasons as the early music ensemble-in-residence at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Folger Consort has delighted audiences with a stunning repertoire of early music spanning roughly 800 years and into the present day. With world-class guest artists, from virtuoso soloists to large choirs and period orchestras, Folger Consort has performed masterpieces of the most renowned composers and hidden treasures from those who might otherwise be lost to history. Performing in the intimate setting of the Folger's Elizabethan-styled Theatre, as well as such grand spaces as Washington National Cathedral, Strathmore Hall, and the Kennedy Center, Folger Consort has also toured nationally and internationally to Shakespeare's Globe and other prestigious venues.

Among other awards and critical acclaim for its performances and recordings, Folger Consort has received Best Classical Chamber Ensemble from the Washington Area Music Awards multiple times. For more on Folger Consort, please visit www.folger.edu/folger-consort.

Folger Consort recordings are available for purchase and digital download at iTunes and available for streaming on Spotify.

SOURCE Folger Shakespeare Library