The vibrant program is led by Paul Leenhouts, Distinguished Teaching Professor, Director of Early Music Studies and Director of the UNT Baroque Orchestra. The UNT Baroque Orchestra and Early Music Ensembles are open to all members of the student body by audition. Participation is required for the MA and PhD in Musicology with an Emphasis in Early Music Performance as well as for Early Music Related Fields for the MM, DMA and PhD degrees. Participation in the UNT Baroque Orchestra can also be applied as a chamber music requirement for Master’s students and ensembles can fulfill the requirement for several Artist Certificate programs.

Private instruction is offered on the following instruments: baroque violin and viola (Cynthia Roberts); baroque cello & viola da gamba (Sydney ZumMallen); voice (Daniel Bubeck & Jennifer Lane); baroque oboe (Jung Choi); baroque flute (Na’ama Lion); baroque trumpet (Adam Gordon); natural horn (Stacie Mickens); lute, theorbo & baroque guitar (Arash Noori); harpsichord & basso continuo (Brad Bennight); double bass & chamber music (Gudrun Raschen). Private instruction is required in the degrees listed above.

The ensembles within the Early Music Studies Area offer one of the largest and most active performance activities of its type in North America. With a collection of more than 250 instruments, nearly any ensemble performing 17th- and 18th century repertoire can be assembled. Ensembles perform regularly throughout Texas and the United States and at the Boston & Berkeley Early Music Festivals.

UNT's flagship early music ensemble 'Fantasmi' has toured Brazil, Peru, Puerto Rico, Germany, Austria, Croatia, Vietnam, Taiwan and China during the past eight years.

Performances and masterclasses with notable early music specialists such as Christoph Hammer, Lina Tur Bonet, Phoebe Carrai, Monica Huggett, Manfredo Kraemer, Miloš Valent, David Douglass, Arthur Haas, Barbara Willi, Ellen Hargis, Bruce Dickey, Charles Toet, John Thiessen, Kiri Tollaksen, Paula Fagerberg, Julianne Baird, Hanneke van Proosdij, William Skeen, Bart van Oort and Catherine Turocy have been a regular event.

In cooperation with the UNT Collegium Singers, directed by Richard Sparks, Vox Aquilae, directed by Allen Hightower and UNT Opera, major productions have been presented, such as Bach's St John Passion, Handel's Theodora, Rousseau’s Le Devin du Village, Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea (2003 & 2016) and the premiere of Milčinský’s Oratorium Ztracená Ovce, which has been recorded by the Czech National Radio (2023). Other performances include presentations for the American Choral Directors Association and the Society for Eighteenth-Century Music.

UNT Graduates are performing in some of the most prestigious baroque orchestras and ensembles in North America and Europe.