Aulos Ensemble, Soprano Present Secrest Concert

Famed for their performances on period instruments, the ensemble will feature soprano Julianne Baird, one of the most recorded and distinguished sopranos of the early-music movement.

The concert will begin at 8 p.m. in Brendle Recital Hall. The program, titled “If Music Be the Food of Love,” will include music by Bach, Couperin, Monteverdi, Purcell and others.

The ensemble’s unique blend of flute, recorder, oboe, violin, cello and harpsichord has achieved worldwide acclaim. The New York Times described an Aulos Ensemble concert as “authentic Baroque performance at its best.”

In addition to touring, Aulos presents master classes and lecture demonstrations in 17th and 18th century performance practice at colleges and universities throughout the country. Many of its performances have been recorded for National Public Radio.

For the past 10 years, the ensemble has presented a series of Christmas concerts in front of the Neapolitan Christmas Tree at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, described by the New York Times as “one of the most charming celebrations of the season in New York. Aulos’ first recording for the Musical Heritage Society “Original Telemann” was hailed as one of the most accomplished and significant observances of the composer’s tercentenary.

Considered one of the nation’s most distinguished sopranos, Baird specializes in early music, but also explores music of other periods, including 19th century popular tunes and rags. She has performed with such major orchestras as the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta, the Cleveland Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

She has also appeared in London with Christopher Hogwood in Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas.” At Alice Tully Hall in New York, she performed Mozart’s earliest opera, “Apollo and Hyancinthus.” A faculty member at Rutgers University, Baird has made more than 65 recordings. She has a doctorate in musicology from Stanford University.

Tickets are $17.50 for adults, $12.50 for seniors and non-Wake Forest students. They are available through the University Theater Box Office at (336) 758-5295 from noon-5:30 p.m. weekdays.