• EMSI 40th Anniversary Season

    Check out our exciting 2024 – 2025 season lineup!

    Season PreviewTickets On Sale Now
  • Aci, Galatea e Polifemo

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

    Info & Tickets
  • 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

Upcoming Concerts

  • Feb 15 | Jonatan Alverado and Ariel Abramovitch (ARGENTINA)
    • Jonatan Alverado and Ariel Abramovitch (ARGENTINA)
    • Huehuetenango – Music from 16th Century Guatemala Buy Tickets Redeem your Flex Pass Voucher(s) for This Concert Tenor Jonatan Alverado and Ariel Abramovich on vihuela explore a 16th Century Guatamalan […]

    • Read More
  • Mar 22 | Quicksilver Baroque Ensemble (USA)
    • Quicksilver Baroque Ensemble (USA)
    • The Early Moderns – Vienna’s Rise Buy Tickets Redeem your Flex Pass Voucher(s) for This Concert  The brilliant American ensemble Quicksilver — “Revered like rock stars within the early music […]

    • Read More
  • Apr 11 | Doulce Mémoire (FRANCE)
    • Doulce Mémoire (FRANCE)
    • Eh bien, dansez maintenant ! Buy Tickets Redeem your Flex Pass Voucher(s) for This Concert Imagine yourself in the elegant royal court of the French Renaissance, attending a ball with […]

    • Read More
Next concert

Jonatan Alverado and Ariel Abramovitch (ARGENTINA)
February 15

Huehuetenango – Music from 16th Century Guatemala Buy Tickets Redeem your Flex Pass Voucher(s) for This Concert Tenor Jonatan Alverado and Ariel Abramovich on vihuela explore a 16th Century Guatamalan […]

Read More

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…

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…

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…

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Would you like to receive news about upcoming concerts?

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.