Digital Concert:  Emi Ferguson and Ruckus

Available for on demand viewing from Monday, February 13, 2023 at 8pm until Sunday, February 19, 2023 at 7:00 PM ET.

Taking Bach out of the museum and infusing his music with equal parts tradition, funk, whimsy, and fun, Emi Ferguson, principal flutist of the Handel and Haydn Society, and freewheeling Baroque continuo band Ruckus take you on a wild romp through some of Bach’s most playful and transcendent works in their new collaboration entitled Fly the Coop.  

With imaginative arrangements of Bach’s Flute Sonatas and Keyboard Preludes, the program is orchestrated for baroque flute and the forces of Ruckus that include theorbo, baroque guitar, baroque bassoon, violoncello da spalla, harpsichord, organ, and baroque bass.  

Ruckus and the super-powered baroque rhythm section explode Bach’s single bass line into a rainbow of textures and colors, continually shifting like light over the landscape as Ferguson’s flute lines dance above. 

This performance is made possible in part by support from Celebrity Series' LIVE PERFORMANCE! Arts for All Innovation Funds.