Early Music Concert: 1776

Join Williamsburg Baroque for the finale of their second season, '1776: Deplorable Barbarism & Delightful Recreation.' Williamsburg Baroque is proud to present this award-winning program which recently was featured at the 2026 Bloomington Early Music Festival. The program consists of a display of instrumental music from the early decades of the nascent United States. The instrumental works in this program—all composed between 1767 and 1803 and titled after Thomas Jefferson's comments on the state of music in the land—reflect the new “Immigrant School” of early American composers hailing from Europe and across the young nation.

For this concert, Williamsburg Baroque welcomes esteemed soprano Margot Rood, whose sublime voice the Washington Post has praised as “sterling, gleaming tone and magnificent control,” has been included in recordings that have won numerous awards, including the Gramophone Award for Early Music in 2018, as well as several Grammy-winning and nominated albums. Rood will solo with Williamsburg Baroque in the rarely performed cantata by Johann Christian Bach, “Die Amerikanerin” (the American Girl), which was published in 1776, likely as a nod to the American colonies declaring independence from Britain.

In order to bring professional early music performers to our community there will be a ticket cost of $25 for adults and $10 for youth and students. Tickets available at the door or in advance at www.williamsburgbaroque.org.

Parking near the Historic Area is recommended. If you plan to park at the Colonial Williamsburg Visitor Center, please check the bus schedule.