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About Lyra
Lyra is a private nonprofit organization and Baroque music ensemble founded in 1984 and incorporated in 1985. Initially marketed as The Lyra Concert, it is now known as Lyra Baroque Orchestra. In the fall of 1985, Lyra launched its first full season with five concerts in St. Paul, a three-concert series in Menomonie, Wisconsin, and a single performance in Rochester, Minnesota.
Lyra's mission is to present the highest quality performances of seventeenth and eighteenth century music. Lyra pursues this mission through the use of period instruments and historically informed performances presented to a wide and diverse audience. Two principles inform Lyra's artistic vision:
1) To cultivate the growth and participation of various musical and organizational partners, including guest players, guest vocalists, board members, advisors, donors, and volunteers.
2) To utilize the highest caliber Baroque experts as guest soloists, guest directors, and guest section leaders to facilitate the musical growth of individual players, the ensemble, and the community.
In April 2000, following the retirement of Randy Bourne, Lyra's founding artistic director, Lyra appointed new co-artistic directors -- David Douglass, violinist and founder of The King's Noyse, and Jacques Ogg, harpsichordist for Europe's Orchestra of the 18th Century and professor of harpsichord at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, Netherlands. This co-director leadership model continued through the 2003-2004 season. In the spring of 2004, Lyra implemented a single artistic director leadership model and appointed Jacques Ogg as Artistic Director and David Douglass as Special Guest Director.
The core of Lyra's activity is an annual concert series of five programs, each performed once in St. Paul and once in Rochester, Minnesota. Master classes and other performance opportunities help to broaden and deepen Lyra's audience and win new supporters of historically informed performance in the area.
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