The Festival Music Society (FMS) specializes in "early music." It was established in 1966 as a not-for-profit organization to enrich, educate and entertain audiences with the music of Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and early classic eras. FMS concerts feature high quality performers, performing on instruments of the period. FMS was the first organization of its kind formed in Indiana and only the second in the nation at the time of its organization. The concert series takes place every June and July at the Indiana History Center.

In the beginning, FMS concentrated on the major works of the Baroque era, for example, Bach, Handel and Vivaldi. The historic range of music presented was later expanded to include that of the Renaissance and Medieval periods. Music played at FMS concerts was generally composed between 900 A.D. and 1800 A.D. Performances have included vocal music, both choral and solo; instrumental music, both ensemble and solo, and dance, court, folk and ballet. A number of student-performers have received specialized training through FMS summer performances. Other young artists have gained experience and exposure through FMS.

Educational components have been regularly included in FMS programming, as it seeks to increase the public’s understanding and appreciation of early music. Performers are selected who are historically-informed and worldly acclaimed interpreters of early music.

For many years the Society’s music director was Frank Cooper, who also presented lectures relating the early music being heard with the art and architecture of the period and country. Frank Cooper  served as the FMS music director from 1973 until the summer of 2007. A former member of the faculty of Butler University, Cooper was an accomplished harpsichordist and an interpreter of early music. He is  Research Professor of Music in the Department of Musicology at the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida and Associate Curator of Fine Arts at the Vizcaya Museum in Miami.

In 2007, following Mr. Cooper's retirement, FMS had the good fortune of obtaining Mark Cudek as our Artistic Director. He is also the director of the Early Music Department at the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Cudek is an accomplished performer who plays the guitar, recorder, crumhorn, bass viol, and percussion. He plays with HESPERUS, APOLLO’S FIRE, CATACOUSTIC  CONSORT and BALTIMORE CONSORT.  He is actively involved in the Peabody Renaissance Ensemble, has been creator and Director of the High School Early Music Program at the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan and continues to be involved. He has taught for twenty-five years; recently created a Masters program at Peabody; instituted a new Baroque Orchestra, and developed an early music program at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.  Cudek has performed in the Indianapolis Early Music Festival both as a member of HESPERUS and, more recently in the summer of 2006, with THE BALTIMORE CONSORT. He has a BFA from University of New York and an MM from the Peabody Institute. In 2001 he received the Early Music America Thomas Binkley Award and in 2005 from Early Music America the award for Outstanding Contribution to Early Music Education.  

Mary Ellen Roberts was the Society’s Executive Secretary for many years until her death in early 2008.

In mid-2007 Gail McDermott-Bowler became Managing Director. A former Board Member of FMS, Gail worked several years for the Indiana Repertory Theater helping to promote and publicize their productions.

• FMS has been the setting for North American premieres of important music works.
• Famed harpsichordist Igor Kipnis performed the cycle of seven Bach Partitas in Indianapolis before making his Grammy-nominated recordings of them for Angel Record. The recordings carry a credit to the Festival Music Society
• The Society has introduced a series of exceptionally gifted young artists who have gone on to successful professional careers.
• FMS has a long association with National Public Radio. NPR broadcasts throughout the United States and Canada selections from FMS concerts on its program Performance Today.
• FMS has conducted workshops in early music and dance, presented a symposium and exposition of historical musical instruments and sponsored the Collegiate Virtuoso Competition.
• Interaction between audiences and performers is encouraged at informal, post-concert receptions, where performers and the audience mingle.

The budget of the Festival Music Society has remained fairly stable for a number of years with annual operating expenses of approximately $100,000. Revenue sources include: ticket sales, individual contributions, and grants. The Board of Directors conducts the annual fund raising campaign. While many individuals give generously to the Festival Music Society, the organization has, in the past, relied on a few large gifts to provide most of its operating capital. It must broaden its financial and audience support .

It must also broaden its audiences, as the Society recognizes that its audience is aging.

An endowment was created in 1992 with an initial deposit of $60,000 in assets from various sources. Those funds have remained invested in the Society’s endowment fund and grown. In 1998, the Festival Music Society Board of Directors contributed or pledged an additional $114,000, a portion of which has been placed with the Central Indiana Community Foundation to manage on behalf of the Festival Music Society. The goal of the Board of Directors is to continue raising its  endowment value (currently approximately $1,000,000) in order to generate sufficient interest income to provide general operating support, increase funds available for  fees for performers, and continue the marketing effort to increase the size and diversity of the Society’s audience.

Our Marketing Plan is continually reviewed with the goal of achieving a larger and more diverse and younger audience.

FMS continues to work with area middle and high schools, as well as with Indiana’s colleges and universities, to inform students with interests in early music of its programs.

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