“Early Music” is the movement to reproduce the sounds intended and heard by pre-19th-century composers, performers, and their audiences. Music then was performed mainly in residences and churches, for relatively small audiences, on relatively small — softer, subtler—instruments. Music was more intimate, private, and functional than it became in 19th-century large symphony orchestras and public concert halls. Today early music is standard for its period; the number of small ensembles is multiplying rapidly, their technique is improving, and they are finding a receptive public. The research and development phase of early music’s recovery has evolved into a marketing phase, in which the business models are being worked out as groups proliferate. AP exemplifies the trend. Founded in 1989, and led today by Ian Watson, a first-rate musician with institution-development talent, AP is soaring—audiences have doubled in two years; artistic reputation has grown — they will perform at the National Cathedral in 2007. Their programming combines familiar chestnuts performed in the new style, with less-known composers and works now being rediscovered for modern audiences. AP is carving out a solid niche of their own — a successful blend of past with future. You can be a patron!