The Boston Camerata

Now celebrating its 71st season, The Boston Camerata occupies a unique place in the densely populated universe of European and American early music ensembles. Founded in 1954 when the field was in its infancy, The Boston Camerata has achieved its prominence in large part because of its willingness to engage meaningfully with many kinds of historical repertoires across the centuries, from the early Middle Ages to the nineteenth century, and from places and cultures from the Middle East to early New England with frequent stops in Renaissance and Baroque Europe and Latin America. 

Under the leadership of Anne Azéma, the Boston Camerata continues to create new concert and recorded productions in Boston and elsewhere. These typically combine scholarship, much of it original, with high performance standards maintained by a distinguished roster of outstanding vocal soloists and instrumentalists. The Camerata has a rich history of collaboration with partners, at home and on tour, as varied as the Trinity Boston Choristers, the Longy School of Music, the Tero Saarinen Dance Company, and the Shaker Community of Sabbathday Lake, Maine, among others. 

In addition to live, often staged performances, The Boston Camerata has an extensive media catalog including two recent, critically acclaimed Harmonia Mundi CDs. The Boston Camerata’s full discography can be viewed on our website, bostoncamerata.org. 

Outside of its regular concert series, The Boston Camerata has most recently performed at the American Academy of Arts and Science (December 2024), the Centennial Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America (March 2025), the Boston Early Music Festival (June 2025), and at festivals in Finland, France, Germany and Austria (winter-summer 2025). 

Free America! marks the ensemble's fifth appearance at the Tanglewood Festival, and its second celebrating America's musical heritage.