The upcoming concert season in South Florida will see the debut of a local ensemble devoted to the performance of Baroque music.

The group, named Arcanum, has been formed by tenor Tony Boutté and Baroque flutist Colin St. Martin, and will be featured in the Miami Bach Society’s Tropical Baroque Festival in March. But before that, Arcanum will appear in a Bach Society-sponsored concert on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, at a venue to be determined later.

Arcanum also will be heard in concerts in the Netherlands, France, and Texas. Boutté, who now teaches voice at the University of Miami, said as far as he and St. Martin know, theirs is the only such group in South Florida.

“What we believe sets us apart is our commitment to music from the 17th and 18th centuries. We seek to combine passion for the music with historically informed performances (on period instruments) to create vibrant renderings of the music we love,” Boutté wrote in an e-mail message to me this week. “We believe that South Florida, with its intelligent audiences and attractive performance spaces, is primed for the kind of programs we seek to offer.”

The program for the Nov. 28 concert, which features Boutté and St. Martin along with violinist June Huang, harpsichordist Robert Heath and bass viol player Annalisa Pappano, is devoted to music of the French Baroque. Included are clavecin pieces by Rameau, suites by Boismortier and Leclair, and a cantata called Le Caffé (Coffee), by composer Nicolas Bernier, who was celebrated in his time (1664-1734) for his teaching as well as his music.

The Bernier coffee cantata, not nearly as well-known as one on the same subject by J.S. Bach, contains arias with titles such as O toi, liqueur que j’aime (O you, liquid that I love), and doubtless will be good for audiences still recovering from post-prandial turkey annihilation. Pieces are not finalized for the Miami Bach Society concert March 3, but Boutté said it will be devoted to music of the German Baroque, and include pieces by Bach, Handel, Telemann and Dietrich Buxtehude.

Baroque ensembles have become fashionable in recent decades as the scholarly passion for early music led younger musicians to study how to play instruments such as the viola da gamba, and to research performance practices of the time. Boutté (at left) said he and St. Martin want to make Arcanum a “world-class” ensemble.

“The plan is to scout and use as much local talent as possible, while maintaining a high performance level. We have already discovered Robert Heath (keyboard), an extraordinary talent, who will be playing both of our area concerts this year,” Boutté wrote. “We will be bringing in other outstanding players from around the world to fill out each program. We are also committed to fostering early music performance practice in South Florida through master classes with our guest players and core members.”

Boutté has sung with such major early music figures such as William Christie (and his group, Les Arts Florissants) and Christophe Rousset, and he can also be found in a YouTube video singing music from Philip Glass’ opera Satyagraha, with the composer at the piano. St. Martin (at right) has played with groups such as Washington’s Folger Consort, the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, and Tafelmusik, and teaches at Baltimore’s Peabody Institute.

Though Boutté is not averse to the idea of wide success with Arcanum, that’s not what impelled the two to found the ensemble, which had its first stirrings in 2007 when they put together a concert for a Philadelphia conference about the history of alchemy and chemistry.

“Our main reason for starting this ensemble is simply our love of the repertoire and the instruments for which it was written,” he wrote. “Whether or not the ensemble is profitable is secondary to bringing this performance aesthetic to a larger audience. Sounds idealistic, but it’s very true.”

And what it all comes down to is the special appeal of this category of music.

“Clarity, complexity, passion and beauty of form are key qualities of music from this period. The covert sensuality combined with an amazingly complex sense of structure are endlessly appealing to us, as are the same qualities found in so much of the literature, art, and architecture from the Baroque period,” Boutté wrote. “There is also a freedom in this music that comes into play through improvisation of melody and rhythm. The more we learn about and perform this music, the more we feel compelled to share it through our passionate and historically informed lens.”

South Florida’s first chance to view the Baroque through the Arcanum lens comes in late November, and it’s a safe bet that local fans of early music will turn out to welcome this newest area performing ensemble.