Pittsburgh’s Chatham Baroque: (from left) Scott Pauley (theorbo), Cynthia Halverson (viola da gamba), Adam Fouts (violin). Alan Adams photography
It sounds like one of those aggressive corporate takeovers: “We can be that much more comprehensive in our planning, and avoid redundancies,” says violinist Andrew Fouts, one of Chatham Baroque’s artistic directors. “We are now able to juxtapose interesting projects.”
Since he’s describing the merger between Pittsburgh’s two largest Baroque organizations—Fouts’s Chatham Baroque, and the long-time presenter Renaissance & Baroque—this isn’t about corporate profitability, or raiding assets until there’s nothing left.
It’s about the music.
The two organizations have formed the core of Pittsburgh’s early-music scene for decades. Renaissance & Baroque has presented period performances since 1969. Chatham Baroque has performed for almost three decades. They merged in 2018, creating an early-music dynamo.
“If you were a fan of the Renaissance & Baroque series, you wouldn’t have noticed much difference,” Fouts says about the merger. “That wasn’t necessarily the case though. We’ve had a great deal of growth.”
If by growth he means “marquee names coming to Pittsburgh,” Fouts is on the mark. The 2019–20 season features Sequentia with Benjamin Bagby, the East of the River players, and the estimable Venice Baroque Orchestra.
Fouts shares artistic direction of Chatham Baroque with Cynthia Halverson (viola da gamba) and Scott Pauley (theorbo), and the trio now become artistic directors of the new organization. Chatham Baroque’s executive director Donna Goyak steps into the same role for the joined companies.
You’d think two early-music organizations in the same city, both with decades of experience, would share the same audience. Not so—audience analysis after the merger offered some surprising results.
“We thought there would be overlap,” he says; “we assumed it. But in fact, it was somewhere around 50 percent. That’s a great boon—the fact that you can reconcile it, then sort and target audiences when you’re reaching out.”
The merger might serve as a model for similar organizations in other cities. Fouts certainly can dream big when thinking about the possibilities.
“As we look farther and farther forward, four or five years, and we’ll be able to take bigger risks,” he says, “and do something outside the normal purview. There’s a variety in the field, in the realm of early music, that appeals to different folks.
“Chatham Baroque has done theater collaborations, opera, and with dance companies,” he says, referring to previous efforts with Quantum Theatre and Attack Theatre, and with Pittsburgh Opera, where Chatham Baroque forms the core of the orchestra for Baroque repertory. “We’d like to do some things that marry dance and music, or multimedia. The more varied the artistic offerings, the more varied the audience response.”
Finding a resident home for the new Chatham Baroque is also on the wish list, but might take time. The opportunity might just come; Synod Hall Auditorium, a frequent venue, will undergo renovations soon and become unavailable.
“We aim to keep the spirit of this thing. The community has a big investment in these organizations,” Fouts says. “But in terms of pipe dreams, being associated with our own hall in is the conversation, if we maintain the trajectory and variety that we’re involved with now. It’s pretty exciting.”