About
Early Music Day is held every year on 21st March, a day celebrating the beginning of spring, and the birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach.
A LIVELY COMMEMORATION OF EUROPEAN MUSICAL HERITAGE
Early Music Day is a celebration of more than a millennium of music, through concerts and events taking place simultaneously around the world. Early Music Day is a focal point for promoting historical musical heritage in Europe. Each year, an ambassador represents the day, and hundreds of participants add their events to the official programme for the day, which becomes a global celebration!
CELEBRATING 1000 YEARS OF LIVING MUSIC HISTORY
Early music is a central part of the cultural heritage shared by Europeans, closely connected with other artistic expressions such as dance, theatre, and architecture. It spans more than 1000 years of music, written down or transmitted by oral tradition, from the Middle Ages to the end of the 18th century. While some of the composers of these eras are widely known, there is a large repertoire still to be re-discovered by today’s audiences. The Early Music Day aims to increase awareness of the music from the medieval, renaissance and baroque periods and bring it to the attention of a wider audience.
READY? PARTICIPATE!
Register your eventA REMA PROJECT, OPEN TO THE WHOLE WORLD!
Early Music Day is a REMA project, launched in 2013, initiated by its past president Peter Pontvik. REMA, the official promoter and coordinator of the celebration, is the representative network for Early Music in Europe, composed by 182 members in over 28 countries. The network and its members organise concerts, conferences, and other events under the Early Music Day heading, but the celebration is of course open to every organisation and partner interested in joining! Early Music Day is an important online event as well, with concerts being live streamed, reaching audiences in the whole world.
PARTNERSHIPS AND MEDIA
A strong partnership with the media is essential to the impact and visibility of Early Music Day. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has been a partner to the event since its first edition in 2013. Partnerships between REMA members/other organisers involved in the project and local, regional and national media in each country complement the European aspect.
