2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the Early Music Foundation (EMF), as well as the 20th anniversary of its first New York Early Music Celebration in 2004. To kick off the eighth New York Early Music Celebration, encompassing the entire month of October, EMF and Early Music America will co-host a panel discussion moderated by Robert Aubry Davis, host of the syndicated radio program Millennium of Music. The panel is made up of six distinguished members of the New York early music community:
- Louise Basbas, founder, board president and former executive director of Music Before 1800;
- Nicola Canzano, a composer, harpsichordist and organist who is on the faculty at Michigan State University and serves as a staff accompanist at The Juilliard School;
- David McCormick, executive director of Early Music America, artistic director of Early Music Access Project, and a founding member of Alkemie;
- Patricia Ann Neely, a specialist on viola da gamba, violone, vielle, and baroque bass, currently serving as director of Abendmusik, and as an EMA board member;
- Christopher Preston Thompson, a tenor, historical harpist, and musicologist who is the founding artistic director of Concordian Dawn and on faculty at New York University; and
- Gwendolyn Toth, a historical keyboardist who is the founder and artistic director of ARTEK and professor of Historical Performance Practice at City University of New York.
Admission to the public is free of charge. Early Music America will host a reception immediately following the panel discussion.
