• 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

  • Aci, Galatea e Polifemo

    Thank you Victoria, for joining us in this unique celebration of our 40th Season!

    Info & Tickets

  • 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

  • Sep 26 | Amanda Forsythe with the Pacific Baroque Orchestra (USA/CANADA)
    • Amanda Forsythe with the Pacific Baroque Orchestra (USA/CANADA)

    • SPECIAL CONCERT Amanda Forsythe Sings Handel Amanda Forsythe returns to Victoria in this program of arias by Handel originally written for Élisabeth Duparc (‘La Francesina’). We have heard this renowned […]

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

    • 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 and the faint residue of […]

    • Read More
  • 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 […]

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

    • 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 newer Christian rite. Christmas, as […]

    • Read More
  • 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 […]

    • Read More
  • 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 […]

    • Read More
  • 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 […]

    • Read More
  • Apr 17 | ARTEK Early Music
    • ARTEK Early Music

    • SPECIAL EVENT Artemisia – Light and Shadow With the success of our opera and dinner production last September, we will once again be presenting a staged production with dinner at […]

    • Read More
  • Apr 18 | ARTEK Early Music
    • ARTEK Early Music

    • SPECIAL EVENT Artemisia – Light and Shadow With the success of our opera and dinner production last September, we will once again be presenting a staged production with dinner at […]

    • Read More
Next concert

Amanda Forsythe with the Pacific Baroque Orchestra (USA/CANADA)
September 26

SPECIAL CONCERT Amanda Forsythe Sings Handel Amanda Forsythe returns to Victoria in this program of arias by Handel originally written for Élisabeth Duparc (‘La Francesina’). We have heard this renowned […]

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

The list of soloists and ensembles presented by EMSI is a who’s who
of the international early music scene:

Anonymous 4 Ensemble Clement Janequin Monica Huggett Orlando Consort Stile Antico Boston Early Music Festival Nancy Argenta Fretwork Dame Emma Kirkby Red Priest Tafelmusik Baltimore Consort The Harp Consort Ton Koopman Jordi Savall Daniel Taylor Concerto Koln John Holloway London Baroque Sequentia Collegium Vocale Gent

EMSI News

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

Interview with Matthias Maute, Ensemble Caprice

,
Three years ago, EMSI and Ensemble Caprice agreed to a series of three concerts. The first was to feature the music of Bach, the second of Vivaldi and the third of Handel. We have been treated to two extraordinary and exciting concerts and…
Read more

Corno da tirarsi

Portrait, oil on canvas of Gottfried Reiche (1667–1734) by Elias Gottlob Haussmann (1695–1774), 1727 Bach specified an instrument he called the "tromba o corno da tirarsi" for the elaborate brass line in three of his cantatas: the only…
Read more

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Create an account on EMSI’s Tix page (you will have already done so if you’ve bought tickets online) and be sure to opt in to our mailing list.