Weekend Concert Series
ACRONYM: Esther in the Age of Rembrandt
With special guests: Amanda Forsythe, Teresa Wakim, Kim Leeds, Aaron Sheehan, and Jesse Blumberg
Sunday
October 18, 2026
1:30 - 3:30 pm
Calderwood Hall
Order your tickets starting July 29 at 10 am. Members and patrons enjoy exclusive access to tickets before they become available to the public on Wednesday, August 5. And member rates apply—$56 to $79 per ticket.
In conjunction with our fall exhibition, this program offers rare performances of three Esther cantatas written during Rembrandt’s time, including one by Jacquet de La Guerre, the remarkable French woman composer.
A generation older, the Flemish composer Leonora Duarte came from a Portuguese-Jewish converso family. Salamone Rossi, a Jewish Mantuan composer, wrote both instrumental music and the first published polyphonic settings of Jewish liturgical music in Hebrew.
Program
Salomone Rossi
Sinfonia grave à5 (about 1607)
Gagliarda Massara (about 1607)
Leonora Duarte
Sinfonia à5, No. 5 (about 1625–1650)
Giacomo Carissimi
Regina Hester (about 1640–1650)
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer
Balletto, genandt das Narrenspitall (about 1667)
Marc-Antoine Charpentier
Historia Esther (1677)
Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre
Esther (about 1708)
Artist
ACRONYM is:
Edwin Huizinga, violin
Chloe Fedor, violin & viola
Beth Wenstrom, violin & viola
Kyle Miller, viola
Kivie Cahn-Lipman, lirone
Loren Ludwig, viola da gamba
Paul Dwyer, violoncello
Doug Balliett, violone
Daniel Swenberg, theorbo
Elliot Figg, harpsichord & organ
Photo by Jeff Weeks
How to Get Tickets
The Fall 2026 presale begins July 29 at 10 am. Once presale begins, log in to your online account, call the Box Office at 617 278 5156, or visit the admissions desk in person to purchase concert tickets.
Quick tips for presale:
- If you are already a member, log in first, and then add concert tickets to your basket.
- Not a member? Join today to gain access to tickets and member savings.
Music at the Gardner is supported by the Nora McNeely Hurley Foundation. The Museum thanks its generous concert donors: The Coogan Concert in memory of Peter Weston Coogan; Fitzpatrick Family Concert; James Lawrence Memorial Concert; Scott Nickrenz Concert; Alford P. Rudnick Memorial Concert; David Scudder in memory of his wife, Marie Louise Scudder; Wendy Shattuck Young Artist Concert; and Willona Sinclair Memorial Concert. The piano is dedicated as the Alex d’Arbeloff Steinway. The harpsichord was generously donated by Dr. Robert Barstow in memory of Marion Huse, and its care is endowed in memory of Dr. Barstow by The Barstow Fund. Music at the Gardner is also supported in part by Barbara and Amos Hostetter, Joseph Mari, Sallie and Jim McGregor, Nicie and Jay Panetta, and The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc.
