Con Gioia, based in Claremont, presents some of the best performers of early music in the United States and Europe. Following its debut in 1982, the ensemble continues to provide Southern California audiences with outstanding early music performances on period instruments.

Con Gioia has featured such internationally renowned musicians as violinists Eduard Melkus, Daniel Stepner, Monica Huggett, Chiara Banchini, and Elizabeth Blumenstock; flutists John Solum, Mathias Maute, and Stephen Schultz; viola da gambists Wieland Kuijken, Laura Jeppesen, and Mark Chatfield; oboist Gonzalo X. Ruiz; and sopranos Julianne Baird, Juliana Gondek, and Sharon Baker. Con Gioia has performed concerts at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Caltech, Getty Villa, San Diego Museum of Art, Zipper Concert Hall, and the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, among other southland venues. During the seasons 2000-2001 and 2001-2002, Con Gioia presented performances of all of Bach's concertos for one or more harpsichords. Con Gioia's recording of several of these concertos was released in 2004 by Centaur Records, and has received high critical acclaim. In 2006, the ensemble presented all-Mozart programs to commemorate the composers 250th birthday. Con Gioia's recent performances at pre-festival events of the Los Angeles Bach Festival have featured virtuoso baroque violinists Monica Huggett and Chiara Banchini with Preethi de Silva.

In 2009, Con Gioia's programs include commemorations of the anniversaries of the deaths of Handel (d.1759) and Haydn (d.1809), and the births of Purcell (b. 1659), and Margravine Wilhelmine of Bayreuth (b. 1709).

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