Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra
IndyBaroque Music, Inc. is the parent organization of the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra and the chamber music group, Ensemble Voltaire.

Our mission is to enrich, educate, and inspire the Central Indiana community and beyond through the performance of 17th and 18th-century music. We believe in the importance of fostering connections between the past and the present, building a sense of community and mutual understanding, and encouraging the process of self-discovery through music.

Named one of the top 25 ensembles in celebration of Early Music America’s 25th anniversary in 2011, the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra is dedicated to excellent and exuberant performance of 17th and 18th-century music on period instruments. It is led by the artistic director, Barthold Kuijken, who is an internationally renowned baroque flutist and distinguished early music pedagogue. The orchestra is a Naxos Artist ensemble.

Members of the orchestra are some of the finest baroque specialists in North America, and frequently collaborates with other premier ensembles throughout the country. Notable guest appearances by, among others, Julianne Baird, Stanley Ritchie and John Holloway have become highlights in the concert series the orchestra presents in Indianapolis and around the United States. The orchestra was founded in 1997.

Barthold Kuijken
(baroque flute and recorder) was born in 1949; he grew up in a musical environment: two of his elder brothers were studying music and became increasingly interested in early music and early instruments. He studied modern flute at the Bruges Conservatory and the Royal Conservatories of Brussels and The Hague. For playing early music he originally turned to the recorder, but while still studying, he had the good fortune of finding a splendid original baroque flute, which became in fact his best teacher. Research on authentic instruments in museums and private collections, frequent collaboration with various flute and recorder makers, and assiduous study of 17th- and 18th-century sources helped him to specialize in the performance of early music on original instruments. At the same time, on the Boehm-flute, he was a member of the Brussels-based ensemble "Musiques Nouvelles", focusing on avant-garde music. Soon he started to play with his brothers Wieland (viola da gamba and baroque cello) and Sigiswald (baroque violin and viola da gamba), with René Jacobs (countertenor), Paul Dombrecht (baroque oboe), Lucy van Dael (baroque violin), and with the harpsichordists Robert Kohnen and Gustav Leonhardt, more recently also Bob van Asperen and Ewald Demeyere. For many years he was baroque flutist in the orchestra "Collegium Aureum", and he still holds this function in "La petite Bande", the baroque orchestra conducted by his brother Sigiswald. He plays chamber music concerts all over the world, extending his repertory to early 19th-century music (with the fortepianist Luc Devos). He has recorded extensively for various labels (Sony classical, Harmonia Mundi - BMG, Philips - Seon, Accent, Arcana, Atma, Opus 111). Besides his activities as a flute (and recorder) player, he is appearing more and more often as a conductor. His scholarly work includes a new annotated Urtext edition of J.S. Bach's flute compositions (for Breitkopf & Härtel). He teaches baroque flute at the Royal Conservatories of Brussels and The Hague, and is often invited to serve as guest professor or as a jury member in international competitions.