About
Oklahoma Baroque Orchestra
Oklahoma Baroque Orchestra exists to make historically informed performance a living, local practice in Oklahoma—bringing period instruments, scholarship, and community musicians together to let audiences hear early music as its first listeners did.
What is Early Music and HIP?
Historically informed performance (HIP) is the scholarly and artistic pursuit of recovering performance practices lost to time—transforming notes on a page into experiences that speak to contemporary listeners the way they once spoke to their first audiences. By questioning long-held assumptions about how music should sound, OBO invites audiences and students to examine their own assumptions in turn, and makes the case for why this musical culture is worth preserving.
What We Do
Bringing History to Life in Our Modern World
Music Education
The Oklahoma Baroque Orchestra not only seeks to provide quality historically informed performances, but also share the knowledge of historically informed performance and what that means in practicum. Oklahoma Baroque Orchestra is committed to continued education for not only our audiences, but also Oklahoma City schools and young musicians through performance.
Community Collaboration
The Oklahoma Baroque Orchestra is committed to collaboration with community partners. This is not only a seasonal commitment, but a core value of the organization. In our second season, Oklahoma Baroque Orchestra will collaborate with two separate organizations.
Creative Placemaking
Oklahoma Baroque Orchestra’s investment in local artists provides valuable experience and compensation for their artistry in Oklahoma City. This not only supports the professional growth of emerging talents but also contributes to the cultural enrichment of the community by showcasing fresh and innovative artistic perspectives. 90% of Oklahoma Baroque Orchestra’s annual budget is dedicated to musician pay and professional development.
Our Origin
Founded in 2019 as Vitam Musica Foundation and reorganized as Oklahoma Baroque Orchestra in 2022, OBO brings together roughly fifty musicians each season to share historically informed performance with audiences across Oklahoma.
Rooted in Baroque and Classical repertoire but not confined to it, OBO performs on period instruments and expert replicas—gut-strung violins, wooden and bone flutes, and rarities like the theorbo that have largely vanished from modern concert life. The result is music heard close to how it first sounded, brought forward with spontaneity and craft.
OBO is both a performing ensemble and a creative partner in Oklahoma's arts community, collaborating widely to expand who encounters this music and how.