Boston Baroque Founder and Music Director to Stand Down

Martin Pearlman will retire in 2025 after more than half a century with the group

Martin Pearlman, the founder and Music Director of the period-instrument ensemble Boston Baroque, has announced that the 2024/25 season will be his last at the helm of the ensemble. He has been leading the group since 1973 and will take on a new title of Music Director Emeritus.

The search for the group's next Music Director will begin at the start of the 2025/26 season, and prospective candidates will be invited to guest-conduct the ensemble.

One of America's foremost interpreters of Baroque and Classical music, Pearlman has conducted Boston Baroque (originally Banchetto Musicale) in every performance of its more than 50 concert seasons. He has also led the group in 26 major recordings on the labels Linn Records and Telarc.

Pearlman says the highlights of his career have included a complete Monteverdi opera cycle, the New England premieres of Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride and Alceste, and performances of the Beethoven symphonies on period instruments.

He remains the only early-music conductor to have appeared live on the GRAMMY Awards show.

"When Boston Baroque started 50-plus years ago, it was at a time when there were no period-instrument orchestras in North America," Pearlman said. "We started with eight players and no staff."

"Today, we have an amazing ensemble with a wonderful organization behind it. Working with the musicians, guest soloists, staff and Board over the years, and getting to know our wonderful patrons and donors, has been one of the great privileges of my life. I look forward to the coming season, and to what the future holds for Boston Baroque."

"Marty brought to America a new way to approach the Baroque repertoire, and audiences fell in love," said David Friend, Chair of the Board of Directors. "For me, it was an eye-opener. Marty’s performances put Baroque masterpieces into a completely new light. He cultivated a generation of new musicians who could play period instruments and sing in a style that reflects what audiences might have heard hundreds of years ago."

"Now, half a century after Marty launched this company, period-instrument performances have caught on everywhere but under Marty’s leadership and guidance, Boston Baroque remains the granddaddy of them all."