Ruckus is a shapeshifting, collaborative baroque ensemble with a visceral and playful approach to early music. The core is a continuo group, the baroque equivalent of a jazz rhythm section: guitars, keyboards, cello, bassoon and bass. Other members include violin, flute and oboe soloists. The ensemble aims to fuse the early-music movement’s questing, creative spirit with the grit, groove and jangle of American roots music, creating a unique sound of “rough-edged intensity” (New Yorker). Its members are assembled from among the most creative and virtuosic performers in North American early music, based in New York City.

English-American performer and composer Emi Ferguson’s unique approach to the flute can be heard in performances that alternate between the silver flute, historical flutes, and auxiliary flutes. She can be heard live in concerts and festivals around the world as a soloist, and with groups including AMOC, the New York New Music Ensemble, the Handel and Haydn Society, and the Manhattan Chamber Players. Emi was a featured performer alongside Yo-Yo Ma, Paul Simon, and James Taylor at the 10th Anniversary Memorial Ceremony of 9/11 at Ground Zero, where her performance of Amazing Grace was televised worldwide. Her performance that day is now part of the permanent collection at the 9/11 Museum.

Program includes: 

Fly the Coop: An Evening of Johann Sebastian Bach