Flying Forms, formed in 2005, is a baroque chamber music ensemble based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Core members include Marc Levine, baroque violin, Tulio Rondón, baroque cello and viola da gamba, and Tami Morse, harpsichord. In Saint Paul, the group presents its own series of concerts each year at The Baroque Room, a performance space the group created in 2011. Recent programs have included complete sets of the Rameau harpsichord concerti, Corelli violin sonatas, J. S. Bach sonatas for violin or viola da gamba with obligato harpsichord, as well as larger programs featuring Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, the triple harpsichord concerti of J. S. Bach, and Handel’s The Messiah. Past performances have included concerts in notable venues and series including New York’s Symphony Space, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Twin Cities Early Music Festival, the DaeJeon Baroque music festival in Seoul, South Korea, and the Boston Early Music Festival, where the group produced a fully-staged production of Henry Purcell’s opera, Dido and Aeneas.
A strong advocate for early music education, Flying Forms has, in addition to many visits and performances at colleges and secondary schools, been in residence with Lawrence University, the University of Wisconsin (Eau Claire), Minnesota Youth Symphonies, and Minnesota Public Radio as Class Notes artists. In these residencies, the group has given masterclasses, coached baroque orchestras and chamber ensembles, performed in side-by-side concerts, given classroom presentations, and ran a complete summer program in baroque music performance.
Flying Forms has been heard regularly on Minnesota Public Radio and is in demand as recitalists in the Twin Cities and across the region. The group also performs contemporary music written for historical instruments and has commissioned many new works for the ensemble or solo harpsichord. A testament to their commitment to new music is their debut CD, New Music for Old Instruments, featuring the music of Paris-based composer Nissim Schaul.
Flying Forms is committed to being a presence that transforms communities and inspires expression through excellence in performance, innovative education, and creative collaboration.