Known for emotive performances, Musica ad Rhenum plays Bach

Musica Ad Rhenum.

Musica Ad Rhenum.

The Dutch Baroque ensemble Musica ad Rhenum, known for deeply emotional and personal performances, reinvigorates music by Bach in a Bates concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 27, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

Admission is $15, available at batestickets.com. A limited number of free tickets are available for students and seniors 65-plus at bit.ly/oacbates. For more information, please contact 207-786-6135 or olinarts@bates.edu.

Taking its name from the Latin for “music from the Rhine,” Musica ad Rhenum is influenced by the 18th-century music of the European cities that lined the Rhine River, such as Basel, Switzerland, and Cologne, Germany. Emerging from Amsterdam in 1992, the ensemble plays period chamber music on historically accurate instruments — traverso (a type of wooden flute popular during the Baroque era), harpsichord and cello.

Music critic Donald Rosenberg described Musica ad Rhenum’s performances as “triumphant blends of refinement and bold personality.”

While the group honors the original intent of the composer, they also infuse the pieces they play with their own creativity, delivering high-energy performances that have proven that Baroque music can be fresh, expressive and relevant to today’s world. The world agrees; Musica ad Rhenum has played internationally, including shows in London, Madrid, New York, Berlin and Vienna. The ensemble has recorded more than 30 albums.