Madison Early Music Festival

press release: Due to the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s decision to suspend in-person courses, workshops, and conferences for the summer term because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Madison Early Music Festival (MEMF) has been postponed until July 10–17, 2021. This extraordinary situation has affected all of us and we will miss seeing you this summer. Updates will be posted on our website as they are available.   

As you can imagine this was a difficult decision, but a necessary one. We will miss sharing the Burgundian experience with everyone — MEMF is always the highlight of our summer. We already miss our community of participants gathering together in Madison, listening to concerts in the new Hamel Music Concert Hall, learning from our extraordinary faculty, dancing together in Great Hall, and relaxing on the Union Terrace.  

The good news is, we have decided to simply move the scheduled program forward to next season. We sincerely hope that The Good, the Bold, and the Fearless: Musical Life at the Burgundian Court will feature the same guest artists and faculty next year and we hope you will be able to join us in 2021.  

In the meantime, the Madison Early Music Festival will continue to operate. For those who have already registered, we will contact you about issuing refunds and answering any other questions you might have.  

Finally, we appreciate your support — you are the reason that MEMF continues to offer such extraordinary programming, concerts, and instruction year after year. But we appreciate it even more now. If you can make a donation to help offset some of the costs that this year's Festival can’t recoup, we would be extremely grateful. Your gift today will ensure that we can return “better than ever” next year.

Please stay safe and healthy,  

Cheryl, Paul, and Sarah  

Cheryl Bensman-Rowe and Paul Rowe, Co-Artistic Directors  

Sarah Marty

Program Director

MEMF 2020 Concert Series Announced

Save the dates! From July 11-18, the 2020 MEMF Concert Series theme is The Good, the Bold, and the Fearless: Musical Life at the Burgundian Court. The series will feature music of Franco-Flemish composers that were supported by the generous patrons of the arts, the Dukes of Burgundy.

Saturday, July 11: Orlando Consort | 15^th Century Chansons

Sunday, July 12: Piffaro, The Renaissance Band | Burgundian Beginnings & Beyond

Tuesday, July 14: Trefoil | Fleur de Valeur 

Friday, July 17: Nota Bene | Femme Desconfortée

Saturday, July 18: All-Festival Concert | The Musical Glory of the Dukes of Burgundy