Established November 2019. We formed Ensemble Affect to create a conduit to explore our love of historically-informed performance, and to provide Chicago with another resource to experience early music. The first concert, “Eine Kleine Bachmusik,” was held in Evanston, Illinois to a packed house at Vail Chapel. We were overjoyed and overwhelmed by the positive feedback from our community, and quickly began rehearsals for our next concert, held in February of 2020. After its success, we began working toward incorporating the group as a nonprofit, setting up professional recording sessions, building a board, and planning future seasons. Of course we did not know that in a month everything would be put on pause.

After a long hiatus, we emerged in fall of 2021 having perhaps fewer concerts under our belts than we had hoped to perform in two years, but still with an officially established non-profit arts organization and multiple exciting prospects in the works. Because of the pandemic, we found ourselves spread out across the country. Instead of disbanding, we saw this as a strength and used the opportunity to bring concerts to more audiences outside of Chicago, as well as establishing a strong presence in the San Francisco Bay area.

The following years have seen immense growth in not just our own music making but also in the audiences we’ve reach and the program we have created. Spring of 2023 saw the beginning of our chapter on the west coast, introducing ourselves with “Music from the Habsburg Court” in Burlingame and Half Moon Bay, California. The following year brought “Dance in Venice,” introducing dance music from Venetian composers not only to the Bay Area but also to the community of Walla Walla, Washington, thanks to our first university residency at Whitman College.

The 2024-25 season was our most ambitious one yet. Ensemble Affect saw the realization of many years’ planning in distinct programs held in Chicago and San Francisco. Our Dance in Venice program, from the 23/24 season, gained new meaning with a collaboration with pmdance company in Chicago, as well as a unique pantomime for the children of Northbrook Library. Additionally, EA performed for the Landowska Harpischord Society of Chicago, and our ever-popular Baroque Flow program made a return in Uptown.

This music takes guts. Gut strings, that is. We perform on instruments made in the style of (or even made in) the 17th and 18th centuries - arched bows, sheep-gut strings, and not a chin rest in sight. This helps us get closer to the style of playing that took place over 300 years ago. In addition to our vintage fiddles, we practice performing in a style close to what concertgoers’ ears would have heard in the 17th and 18th centuries. To do this we draw upon historical sources like treatises, expert knowledge and training from renowned HIP players, and even depictions of performances found in paintings or letters.

The term affect is a noun used in the Baroque era to describe the emotive quality of music, and specifies the vast diversity of emotions that music could inspire in its listeners.

Ensemble Affect is named in honor of the emotive quality of historical performance, as well as for the play-on-words affect provides. Not only do we celebrate emotion and the influence music has on its listeners, but we also aim to inspire and affect people in positive ways.

Exciting. Emotive. Passionate. Dramatic. There’s a reason we chose to create Ensemble Affect - the music from this period in history is just too good! When you attend a performance, you will be affected by a whole slew of different emotions imbued in the music. There’s something about the baroque bow on gut string that tugs at our hearts and makes us feel raw emotion so easily.

Welcoming and Illuminating. The Ensemble’s mission is not only to perform early music but to educate its audience members and introduce this beautiful art to as many new listeners as possible. We know “traditional” classical music concerts can be daunting for audience members who have never attended one before, or who might not be familiar with the genre of music, and we have designed our concerts to be extremely approachable and friendly. Held in a conversational style where you actually get to know each one of the performers, we take you through the program with us, side-by-side. Our aim is to meet you at your level - literally! Concerts are held on the same level as the audience, whenever possible. This stops any barriers or stages creating a disconnect between the performers and listeners. And finally, we hope you’ll learn a thing or two. This is music we love and feel passionate about, and our goal is to impart a little of that zest and zeal to you!

Engage and Educate. We want every performance to mean something to anyone, no matter their age. Ensemble Affect regularly creates experiences for younger audience members in the form of pre-concert children’s shows that take excerpts and elements from the program and present them in an approachable and fun way. Specifically designed for ages 10 and under, we take a multi-disciplinary approach to provide context to our shows, combining music with interactive dance and visual art activities.

Flexible Programming. We believe music needs to be approachable, and it is important to provide multiple avenues for it to reach audiences. Our candlelit yoga concerts are our newest initiative into making historical performance accessible and meaningful. Audience members are invited to join us on the mat and work through their own flow or simply find rest while we perform meditative pieces chosen to inspire reflection and peace. In our more traditional settings, we look for ways to create a relaxed atmosphere, achieved through engaging directly with the audience from the stage, doing away with the stage altogether, or even just improvising during intermission!

Please enjoy a photo gallery of previous seasons’ concerts, children’s shows, and workshops.
We invite you to find us on social media, or send us a message through our website!