FOXBURG, Pa. – Re-enacting the past, by those seeking historical accuracy or engaged in realms of fantasy, is a pastime shared by thousands of Americans. One can readily think of Revolutionary and Civil War buffs, frontiersmen in deerskin outfits and antique car and tractor collectors.

How many of us have witnessed the amazing display at the Cooper’s Lake Campground each August, where the Society for Creative Anachronism re-creates the Kingdom of AEthelmarc with its inhabitants dressed as characters right out of the Game of Thrones series on HBO?

These people are serious enthusiasts who go to great lengths and expense to reproduce period dress and implements. Among them are professionals in pursuit of the mastery of each detail. This same passion for excellence holds true for a very select group of musicians, who employ authentic period instruments and employ performance practices from a different time and place to the bring to the present the authenticity and immediacy of music of another age.

One of the most notable of these groups is Chatham Baroque, who for nearly 25 years have delighted audiences with the refreshing sounds of early music. Celebrated internationally, Chatham Baroque brings the past to the present, phasing audience members into the altered reality of a court concert in the seventeenth century or an evening of intimate music making in a drawing room at the time of Shakespeare.

Our good fortune is that they are based in Pittsburgh, and that Allegheny RiverStone Center for the Arts will present Chatham Baroque as they take the Lincoln Hall audience on Sunday, March 30 at 2 PM ‘Bach to the Past’ with an afternoon of intimate Bach works on the eve of Bach’s Birthday — March 31, 1685. After the concert, audience members will Meet The Artists and celebrate Bach’s name day with birthday cake, coffee and tea.

The intimacy of ARCA’s Lincoln Hall in Foxburg provides an ideal environment to experience the magical web of sound that Chatham Baroque weaves with their dazzling technique and lively interpretations of seventeenth and eighteenth-century music played on authentic instruments of the period.

During the Lincoln Hall concert, the personable, warm and articulate Chatham Baroque members will serve as living program notes, providing the audience with insights into the composers and the music they will be performing on their unique period instruments. Founded in 1990, the core ensemble is comprised of Andrew Fouts (baroque violin), Patricia Halverson (viola da gamba) and Scott Pauley (theorbo and archlute).

Truly world class music musicians, Chatham Baroque maintains a full calendar of national and international tours, artistic collaborations and has ten CDs to their credit. The ensemble offers audiences the opportunity to hear baroque music that is accessible and thrillingly vivid, with freshness akin to improvisational jazz. “One of Pittsburgh’s greatest treasures” says the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

This well travelled ensemble has toured across the United States as well as in South America and Mexico, the Virgin Islands, and Canada. On the road, the ensemble consistently receives high praise. The Washington Post calls them “musically impeccable”; the Chicago Tribune, “a splendid period-instruments ensemble”; and the New York Times praises their “colorful virtuosity.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s hails Chatham Baroque as one of the “Top 50 Cultural Forces in Pittsburgh.”

‘The Intimate Bach” program to be presented by Chatham Baroque in Lincoln Hall will feature works from their recent CD release Bach and Beyond, and will focus on the intimate works of the baroque master Johann Sebastian Bach. These will include the magnificent Chaconne for unaccompanied violin, a solo suite for the German lute, duets from The Art of the Fugue, and Bach’s Sonata for violin and continuo in G Major. Also on the program will be glorious works by contemporaries Dietrich Buxtehude and Heinrich Ignaz Biber.

In music, there are the Three B’s: Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. At Lincoln Hall on Sunday, March 30th, think in terms of the Four B’s: Bach, Biber, Buxtehude and Birthday. All who attend are invited to a post-concert celebration of J.S. Bach’s birthday with the members of Chatham Baroque. Birthday cake and coffee served. Wigs are not required.

Allegheny RiverStone Center for the Arts Lincoln Hall is located at 42 S. Palmer Ave., Foxburg, PA 16036.

Tickets: Adults $25, ARCA Members $20, Students $10. To reserve tickets, please call 724-659-3153 or email info@alleghenyriverstone.org.