FREE music events for new performers and new audiences
About Pegasus Rising
Pegasus has long been engaged with young people, hosting annual student interns from Eastman’s Arts Leadership Program and inviting several young Developing Artists to perform alongside of our experienced roster. Pegasus Rising is a valuable performing opportunity for these young artists not only as musicians, but in their entrepreneurial career building. Rather than being simply hired to perform, Pegasus Rising young virtuosos are actively involved with the entire process of creating their concert, working closely with the Artistic Director as a mentor and using our resources and experience to guide their plans. The musicians are responsible for and learn about audience development, publicity, marketing, and artistic decisions that go into putting on their concert. We’d like to engage a whole new audience with our music. Our young performers offer a bridge into early music for people who like all styles of music. They will show that early music, even though very old, still sounds new!
Become the next Pegasus Rising artist
We are now accepting applications for our Pegasus Rising Young Artists, for 2026-2027. If you are a young early musician, involved in historical performance practice and beginning your professional career, and would like a chance to perform in Rochester, send us an email at info@pegasusearlymusic.org. Please submit a 1-3 paragraph proposal for a concert: this could include a snappy title, personnel/instrumentation, repertoire, a few words to explain the program, ideas for presentation, possible Rochester venues (if you have any in mind so far), and anything else you think we need to know before agreeing to present you. Please also submit a resume or bio for you and your group or collaborators, and links to audio or video of your performances. Applications for the 26-27 season are due by June 1, 2026.
2025-2026 Pegasus Rising Artists
Magdalena Ensemble:
The Women of Magdala
Friday, May 8, 7:30pm
ArtisanWorks, 565 Blossom Rd, Rochester
Free admission, no tickets required but registration encouraged
About
Magdalena is thrilled to perform their namesake program, The Women of Magdala. This program invites audiences on a sonic journey through the eyes of three women, each named Magdalena (or some variant) and portrayed through history and historical fiction. Audiences will hear excerpts from the lives of Maggie Winslow, representing England, Madeleine de Valois, representing France, and Madaléin Ní Ceallaigh, representing Ireland and Scotland.
Magdalena is a self-directed collective of early, new, and folk music specialists based on the US east coast. Through immersive storytelling, genre expansion, and interdisciplinary endeavors, Magdalena strives to make period music accessible and enjoyable to all, regardless of age or background.Debuted in 2023, Magdalena’s current musician lineup includes Mira Fu-En Huang (voice/percussion), Cole Manel (plectrum instruments), Cameron Welke (plucked strings), and Niccolo Seligmann (bowed strings).
Magdalena has performed across the Mid-Atlantic and beyond, having been featured by presenters such as Gotham Early Music Scene (GEMS) Midtown Concerts, the Indianapolis Early Music Festival, and Early Music Now. The ensemble was thrilled to be selected as one of Early Music America (EMA)’s Emerging Artists of 2024, and to act as Arizona Early Music’s Emerging Ensemble in Residency in 2025.
Pedro Sperb, lute and renaissance guitar:
The first music
Friday, June 12, 7:30pm
Perkins Mansion (AAUW), 494 East Ave, Rochester
free admission, no tickets required!
About
This recital brings to you the earliest surviving music originally conceived for the lute and the guitar. The program includes music from the Wolfenbüttel Lute Tablature; the first guitar music ever published, in Tres Libros de Música en Cifras para Vihuela (1546) by Alonso Mudarra; and music from the first books devoted exclusively to guitar.
Currently a doctoral student at the Eastman School of Music, where he studies under Paul O’Dette, Pedro Sperb specializes in lutes and historical guitars. His work as both performer and educator reflects a deep commitment to historically informed performance, shaped early on through his studies with Silvana Scarinci. Pedro performs as both a soloist and continuo player, with a particular focus on fostering awareness and appreciation of early music. He currently serves as a Chapter Leader for the Lute Society of America, where he directs the educational initiative Lute4Kids. Originally from Brazil, Pedro is dedicated to representing diverse communities in his programming, with a special emphasis on Latin American Baroque repertoire. As an educator, he serves on the faculty at the Eastman Community School of Music and as secondary professor at Eastman School of Music, presenting lectures on early music at universities across California, South Carolina, and Colorado.
2024-2025 Pegasus Rising Artists
The Rise of the Violoncello: Sonatas for a New Baroque Instrument
Jöella Becker, cello
Aaron Tan, harpsichord
The Music of Michelangelo Galilei
“Mandò in luce sotto l’ombra” (“He sent light under the shadow”)
Charles Iner, lute
Meet the Pegasus Rising artists from our opera L’Orfeo!
Chosen by audition, these young singers sang in the chorus and smaller roles, working with our more established singers and the music and stage directors, and generally having a great time getting valuable opera experience.
For more information about our production of L’Orfeo in August 2022, click here
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- MaryRuth Lown, soprano
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- Ashley Mulcahy, mezzo-soprano
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- Nathan Halbur, baritone
Watch Pegasus Rising:
Berwick Fiddle Consort:
“Ayont Yon Glen”
Lydia Becker, Julia Connor, Sarah Douglass, violins;
with guest lutenist Sebastian Quintero
The Berwick Fiddle Consort (BFC) is a folk-baroque ensemble made up of musicians who share a passion for both historical performance and fiddle traditions. Our program presents traditional Scottish, Irish and Cape Breton music alongside Scots-inspired works in the classical style. Francesco Geminiani was an Italian musician who built successful careers in London and Edinburgh and who was interested enough in the Scottish folk tradition to write collections of pieces based on Scots songs. His “Airs made into Sonatas for Two Violins and a Bass” add baroque Italian chords and accompaniment lines to Scottish melodies, creating a new hybrid style. Some of our sets feature this hybrid compositional style, while others will present folk tunes in a more traditional performance idiom.
The New Consort:
“O Stars, Conspiring Against Me”
Brian Mummert, director
Madeline Apple Healey, Julie Bosworth, Elisa Sutherland, Nathan Hodgson, Brian Mummert, Jonathan Woody, singers
Why is it that women in art are so often the ones punished for love? O Stars, Conspiring Against Me is a meditation on women in myth, and how those stories continue to shape the portrayal of women in art to this day. The program is built around the North American digital premiere of The Turn, a piece by UK-based composer Ben Rowarth designed to be interspersed with, and thus recontextualize, Claudio Monteverdi’s Lamento d’Arianna, and is framed by works by some of Monteverdi’s female contemporaries asking, well, the same kinds of questions we are.
Also happened:
The MENT Consort
“A Baroque Menagerie”
June 6th, 2018 at 7pm at Bernunzio Uptown Music
122 East Ave – Free Admission
The MENT Consort from Chicago presents a fun, animal-themed program.
Hear Schmelzer’s “Cu Cu” Sonata and Biber’s “Cat, Quail, and the Frog”, along with other Baroque animals!
The Ment Consort is an early music quartet formed in Chicago in 2015 with the intention
of exploring the experimental and revolutionary music of the 17th and 18th centuries. Through
historical performances on period instruments, Ment considers how baroque composers stretched
the boundaries of the instruments, techniques, and musical genres of their time.
The members of the group consist of Kiyoe Matsuura on baroque violin, Morgan Little
on baroque cello, Jason Moy on harpsichord, and Mary Arendt, soprano voice. Ment has
collaborated with esteemed harpsichordists Alexander Weimann and Ketil Haugsand and has
presented full length programs of music from France, Italy, and Germany.
