Forces of Virtue Programs: Relating the Past to the Present through Culture

A Concert for Peace: Music of War and Peace in the Renaissance
The Forces of Virtue made their performance debut with this program in January 2003 as a benefit to the charity Doctors Without Borders. The two performances in Chicago and Oak Park, Illinois raised $1,000 for the organization and began a new early music tradition in the area.

Read the original program notes from A Concert for Peace.
Read the original media release.
Read the worldwide notice about this concert from Buzzflash.

Handel's Muse
In May 2003, The Forces of Virtue presented this Baroque music program to prove that George Frederick Handel's musical success can be attributed to composers that are essentially forgotten today. In the two performances of this program, The Forces of Virtue presented the North American and modern world premieres of music by some of the greatest baroque opera composers you've never heard of.

Read the original program notes from Handel's Muse.
See pictures of the concert from the Chicago Cultural Center.
View the "Critic's Choice" listing from the Chicago Tribune.
Hear the live North American premiere of the Overture and Dance Suite to the opera Claudius.

An Italian Baroque Bouquet
On May 5, 2004, The Forces of Virtue performed the first semi-improvised early music concert to be broadcast live on WFMT. This spring program featured the often overlooked but eternally delightful vocal and instrumental music of Salamone and Luigi Rossi, Girolamo Frescobaldi, Tarquinio Merula, and others. Improvisations from the Forces of Virtue musicians exemplified the lost art of early 17th C Italy, and transformed the performance into an authentic Baroque music jam session.

See pictures of the concert from the Chicago Cultural Center.
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Future Projects and Programs (updated 6/03/05)