The Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado is coming to Broomfield Sunday with unique instruments and the signature sounds of one of history’s most iconic musical moments.

A small group of just over a dozen musicians will put on the “Fanfares and Flourishes” concert, which promises a festive and light-hearted selection of Baroque music. The Baroque era is from about 1600 to 1750, and includes some well-known classical artists like Bach and Vivaldi.

“There’s such a wide variety of Baroque music … but most of it is about expressing emotion,” orchestra founder Frank Nowell said. “In that time period, there was a sense that music had a rhetorical function, and the purpose of the musician was to move the audience to feel something.”

Nowell said that the music inspires a wide variety of emotions, from the fiery and virtuosic sounds of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons,” to the ingenious and unique melodies of Bach.

“What I love about Baroque music is that it’s very accessible,” he said. “I really think any audience member can come with or without any knowledge or prior experience with it and just enjoy the music. It’s very easy to listen to.”

In addition to the unique sounds of Baroque music, the instruments of the orchestra are also unique.“We play on period instruments, and we use gut strings rather than the modern steel strings,” Nowell said. “The sound is really quite different on those strings, it’s more warm and organic, and has kind of a rustic sound to it at times.”

In addition to period-accurate strings, the stringed instruments also use shorter and more curved bows, allowing musicians to move them more quickly. The ensemble also uses instruments unique to the Baroque era, including the harpsichord — a keyed instrument that plucks the strings to make music instead of hammering them like a piano.

The orchestra also has musicians that specialize in the theorbo, a large stringed instrument similar to a lute, but with more strings and a much longer neck. For the upcoming show in Broomfield, the ensemble is bringing in a special guest to play another unique instrument, the Baroque trumpet.

“The principle of it is the same as with a regular, modern trumpet you would have seen before — but it doesn’t have any valves or any of the buttons that you press down,” guest trumpeter Kathryn Adduci said of the unique instrument. “You change the pitch of the notes by changing the vibrations, using your lips and the air blown into it.”

Because of its lack of valves to change pitch, the Baroque trumpet can be a challenging instrument, but it’s a challenge Adduci said she’s always enjoyed.

“I started on the modern trumpet, and when I was offered the Baroque trumpet I picked it up and just really took to it,” she said. “There’s a simplicity to it that makes it really, really difficult, and I love that challenge along with the sound of it and the music.”

The show will be at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Broomfield Auditorium, 3 Community Park Road. Tickets for the show, including a live-streamed option, can be purchased at bcocolorado.org/concerts.

“We love playing at the Broomfield Auditorium, we love to be close to our audience and have some intimacy about our concerts and it’s really great for that,” Nowell said. “People can really expect a very festive, joyful kind of program, maybe even a little whimsical.”