• Preview our 25/26 season!


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  • EMSI 2025/26 Concert Season

    From Scandinavia to Persia, and Galicia to Bohemia,
    travel through the Medieval and Baroque eras with EMSI!

    Concert DetailsTickets available now

  • Celebrating Victoria’s own talented artists!

    An initiative from EMSI to support our local amateur and professional musicians.

    more information

  • Read about our audience’s experience in their own words:

    “Great to witness the pure joy and artistry of the performers.”
    – Geoffrey Espin

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Upcoming Concerts

  • Oct 25 | Bourdons (CANADA)
    • Bourdons (CANADA)

    • Photo credit: J Abram Photography Treasure Trove: the Cantigas de Santa Maria Just as archaeologists attempt to reconstruct entire communities from a few sherds of pottery, the odd ancient coin […]

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  • Nov 14 | Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Rachel Podger (CANADA/UK)
    • Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Rachel Podger (CANADA/UK)

    • Brilliant Baroque After a hiatus of far too long, we are welcoming back the ever-popular Tafelmusik to Victoria. In 1730s Leipzig, J.S. Bach gathered with friends at Zimmerman’s coffeehouse for […]

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  • Dec 7 | Trio Mediæval (NORWAY)
    • Trio Mediæval (NORWAY)

    • Photo credit: Åsa Maria Mikkelsen Yule The celebration of Yule in Northern Europe harks back to a transition from ancient Pagan Germanic culture to the more formal spirituality of the […]

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  • Jan 31 | Constantinople (CANADA)
    • Constantinople (CANADA)

    • Bach and Khayyam The ever-popular, ground-breaking ensemble Constantinople examines two great musical geniuses, presenting arrangements of some of the most beautiful spiritual songs and arias of JS Bach in dialogue […]

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  • Feb 28 | Ruckus (USA)
    • Ruckus (USA)

    • Strawberry Fields This dynamic Baroque ensemble is indeed creating a ruckus, with their visceral and playful approach to early music. Featuring two brilliant soloists, flutist Emi Ferguson and violinist Rachell […]

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  • Mar 14 | Ensemble Caprice (CANADA)
    • Ensemble Caprice (CANADA)

    • Vivaldi on Fire Back by popular demand, Ensemble Caprice, under the direction of dynamic Artistic Director Matthias Maute, returns to Victoria. A whirlwind of fiery passion and dazzling virtuosity, Vivaldi […]

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  • Apr 17 | ARTEK Early Music
    • ARTEK Early Music

    • SPECIAL EVENT Artemisia – Light and Shadow Two nights: Friday, April 17, 2026 and Saturday, April 18, 2026 With the success of our opera and dinner production last September, we […]

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  • Apr 18 | ARTEK Early Music
    • ARTEK Early Music

    • SPECIAL EVENT Artemisia – Light and Shadow Two nights: Friday, April 17, 2026 and Saturday, April 18, 2026 With the success of our opera and dinner production last September, we […]

    • Read More
Next concert

Bourdons (CANADA)
October 25

Photo credit: J Abram Photography Treasure Trove: the Cantigas de Santa Maria Just as archaeologists attempt to reconstruct entire communities from a few sherds of pottery, the odd ancient coin […]

Read More
Past Concerts Get Tickets

Welcome

to The Early Music Society of the Islands!

Founded in 1985 and based in Victoria BC, the Early Music Society is a non-profit, charitable society dedicated to offering accomplished performances of music composed prior to 1800.

EMSI embraces the idea that early music deserves to be heard with close to its original intent. To that end, our concerts feature period instruments, accurate scores, and historical performance practices.

Renowned artists, both international and homegrown, have graced our stage.

We acknowledge and respect the Lǝḱwǝŋǝn peoples on whose traditional unceded territory EMSI presents concerts, and the Songhees, Esquimalt and WSÁNEĆ peoples whose deep relationships with the land continue to this day.

Sponsors

EMSI News

Treasure Trove – Cantigas de Santa Maria

by Bill Jamieson, Executive and Artistic Director, EMSI and member of Bourdons medieval ensemble The Cantigas de Santa Maria, featured in our upcoming concert on October 25 are truly a treasure trove of medieval music: over 400 songs with…
Read more

Amanda Forsythe – a mix of old and new

By Farrah O'Shea, Ph.D., M.M  (Director, EMSI) We at EMSI are busy preparing for our season opening concert, “Amanda Forsythe Sings Handel,” a celebration of Handel’s tuneful arias and music both old and new. In this concert, Forsythe,…
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Interview with Trevor Eliot Bowes

,
An interview with Trevor Eliot Bowes, who will be singing the role of Polifemo in the upcoming dinner and opera presentation of Aci, Galatea e Polifemo as part of the Early Music Society's 40th Anniversary Season.   Buy tickets to 40th…
Read more

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