Our passion and commitment to offering historically informed performances began here, in Indianapolis (in Tom Gerber’s living room)
The Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra got its start in the mind & martini glass of keyboardist Tom Gerber. In the 1990s, professional period-instrument orchestras were still pretty rare in the United States. A couple existed on the West Coast, but there were none in the Midwest, not even in Chicago. Indianapolis was special, however, because it was already the home of the Indianapolis Early Music Festival, the longest-running period-instrument festival in the country, and only fifty miles south was Indiana University’s Early Music Institute (EMI) started by the legendary Thomas Binkley.
While the idea of IBO came out of Tom’s head, IBO’s nurturing derived from weekly breakfast meetings. Tom and I [Phil Spray] locked up breakfast diner booths for hours, outlining programs, venues, foundations, and private donors on the back of syrup-stained paper mats; which they held onto until the next breakfast meeting.
While Indy’s ear for a Baroque orchestra might have been ready, arts money was tight, and orchestras were expensive. So, IBO started small. Gathering for the first time in the Gerber living room were violin professors Lisa and Davis Brooks, baroque traverso player Barbara Kallaur, symphony players Dean Franke and Susan Chan, and me [Phil Spray]. We all played on period instruments, and the first thing we read was Lully’s March of the Turks. If that wasn’t esoteric enough, next we worked through a wild CPE Bach Symphony. In hindsight, it might have been a curious repertoire for dipping our toes into the period orchestra momentum. Each requires a unique, stylized playing skill based on language and culture. Even so, everyone left excited.
Dr. Fred Burgomaster, at Christ Church Cathedral, gave us our first chance in September 1997, and we presented our first concert: Purcell, Handel and Boyce. To grow our living room band into more orchestra-size, however, we asked the IU student baroque orchestra to play alongside us, and a lucky part of the collaboration was that Stanley Ritchie led us.
As IBO moved forward as a one-per-part orchestra, The Christel DeHaan Performing Arts Center at the University of Indianapolis, built in 1994, was quickly gaining the reputation as one of the best in the Midwest. In 1999, IBO was fortunate to gain a residency at the school’s music department, a residency we still maintain to this day.
The crucial step came when Barbara’s former teacher at The Royal Conservatory of The Hague came to lead us, world famous, Belgian traverso player Barthold Kuijken. He took our living room band and built it into a professional period-instrument orchestra. Perhaps it was fate winking at us; Bart’s specialties were French Baroque composers (such as Lully)….and CPE Bach, the same esoteric composers we had first read in Tom’s living room.
After concerts we always debriefed over Tom’s famous martinis. One time Bart said something he has yet to live down… “I must tell you what a pleasure it is to lead you.” Bart then raised his glass and said “You are gifted amateurs!” *The room was silent.* What he intended of course was not the 20th century connotation, but the 18th century definition of amateur--that we loved music so much that we were devoting our life’s work to it. Very quickly we corrected his English. But again in hindsight, and in 18th century terms, I think he sort of nailed it.
Now, almost thirty years later, we are proud of IBOs growing reputation both nationally and internationally. We are proud that some of the country’s best period-musicians play with us and lead us. But, as Tom and I and others who began with IBO, get more gray, we also remain equally proud of that earlier reputation, that we remain to this day amateurs.
- Phil Spray
Founding members Phil Spray and Tom Gerber
with Artistic Director, Barthold Kuijken
