Doors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. Raquel Andueza and La Galanía SPAIN One of Spain’s leading early music ensembles, Raquel Andueza and La Galanía have appeared to great acclaim across Europe. The folk-inspired songs of Spain are contrasted with the emerging Baroque Italian music of Merula, Monteverdi, Barbara Strozzi and others. […]

Northwest Baroque MASTERWORKS PROJECT NOTE: This is a matinée performance Monica Huggett, violin UK Pacific Baroque Orchestra Alexander Weimann, music director Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the son of a slave, overcame obstacles of class, race and prejudice to become one of the greatest composers of his time, inspiring Mozart and Haydn. The concert includes […]

SPECIAL EVENT Doors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. Stile Antico UK Torn between conscience and obedience, Philips, Dering, and Dowland, several of England’s greatest composers, chose a life of exile while others, Byrd and Robert White, remained at home in spiritual exile. The result was music of astonishing intensity and emotional […]

Doors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. Karina Gauvin, soprano Francis Colpron, recorder and direction MONTREAL Les Boréades de Montréal Canada’s own superstar soprano joins forces with the exciting musicians of Les Boréades baroque orchestra to perform Henry Purcell’s sacred and secular songs, some of the very finest in the English language. […]

Gli Angeli Genève SWITZERLAND   Doors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. A century before Bach, northern Germany succumbed to the lush charms of a bold, new music from Italy: the Baroque. Johann Schein, in his position at the Thomas Kirche that would be Bach’s a hundred years later, was one of the […]

Boston Early Music Festival Ensemble BOSTON Amanda Forsythe, soprano  Colin Balzer, tenor   Christian Immler, baritone   Emőke Baráth, soprano   Doors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. Handel openly praised his mentor Stefani and modeled virtuosic Italian chamber duets on the composer’s exquisite work. Stephen Stubbs leads an all-star ensemble of singers and […]

Diabolus in Musica FRANCE   Doors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. There was a time when the Christian world bowed to Avignon. The wealth, splendour, and power of the French popes attracted kings, princes, and the greatest Medieval artists. This pilgrimage through beautiful music born in Papal opulence includes many works […]

Asteria NEW YORK Sylvia Rhyne, soprano Eric Redlinger, tenor and lute   Doors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. Through the tale of Sir Yvain, one of the most beloved of Arthurian stories, Asteria explores how the ideal of courtly love was very much alive and well in the art songs of […]

Monica Huggett, violin and music direction UK Pacific Baroque Orchestra   Doors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. Celebrate the holidays with a fresh take on some old favourites. Vivaldi’s Gloria and Magnificat were originally composed for an all-female ensemble. Join beloved violinist Monica Huggett as she leads these joyful works the […]

Diderot String Quartet NEW YORK Doors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. When Leipzig composer Felix Mendelssohn revived Bach’s music, it finally received universal admiration. The Diderot String Quartet performs excerpts from The Art of Fugue alongside Mendelssohn’s No.4 Fugue for String Quartet, Op. 81 and his much-loved String Quartet No. 2, […]

Elinor Frey, cello Luc Beauséjour, harpsichord MONTREAL   Doors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. Two of Canada’s leading exponents of historically-informed performance bring to life masterpieces of high Baroque chamber music by Johann Sebastian Bach and his sons Johann Christoph Friedrich and Carl Philipp Emanuel.

La Rêveuse FRANCE   Doors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. A master of instrumental music, Telemann enjoyed more fame and adoration in his time than even the lauded J.S. Bach. Open to French and Italian influences as well as the new galant style that flourished in Germany, he excelled in chamber […]

The Tallis Scholars UK Peter Phillips, music director   Doors open at 1:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 2:10 pm. To commemorate the centenary of the end of World War I, Peter Phillips has put together a stirring program with masses on the theme of the Armed Man (L’homme armé), chansons describing a battle (La Batalla), […]

Psallentes (BELGIUM) Doors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. The angels of the Ghent Altarpiece, one of the apexes of European art, are the inspiration for this concert where the women of Psallentes impersonate these angels and perform the Flemish polyphony that their earlier counterparts would have witnessed.

London Handel Players (UK) Mary Collins and Steve Players dancers (UK) Doors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. Explore the origins of ballet in the dances of Baroque opera. Two of the world’s leading authorities on Baroque dance, accompanied by one of Britain’s most distinguished Baroque ensembles, brings to life the elegance, […]

Byron Schenkman and Friends (SEATTLE) Reginald Mobley countertenor (MIAMI) Byron Schenkman harpsichord and direction Doors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. Byron Schenkman, one of EMSI’s favourite musicians, is joined by flautist Joshua Romatowski, cellist Nathan Whittaker, and countertenor Reginald Mobley in a performance of some of Handel’s most moving cantatas, including […]

Victoria Baroque Jeanne Lamon violin and direction (TORONTO) Rebecca Genge soprano (TORONTO) Kris Kwapis trumpet (SEATTLE) Doors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. Victoria’s own Baroque orchestra, one of Canada’s most brilliant early music sopranos, and trumpet virtuoso Kris Kwapis are led by the legendary Jeanne Lamon in a performance of festive […]

Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra (TORONTO) Elisa Citterio violin and direction Doors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. This all-Bach multimedia creation combines text, music, and stunning projected video and images to explore the world of the artisans—papermakers, violin carvers, string spinners, and performers—who helped J.S. Bach realise his musical genius. In the tradition […]

Corina Marti harpsichord (SWITZERLAND) Doors open at 2:30 pm.  Harpsichord virtuoso Corina Marti performs preludes, fantasias, and dances from the manuscripts of Johannes of Lublin and Johannes Fischer Morungensis: fresh, lively music that is still danceable half a millennium after its composition. Don’t miss the once in a lifetime opportunity to hear this repertoire.

Chiaroscuro String Quartet (EUROPE) Doors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. Chiaroscuro Quartet brings together some of the finest period string players from across Europe: France, Spain, Sweden, and Russia. Savour some of the most revered of all string quartets as you have never heard them before: Haydn’s Op. 33 No. 2, […]

Choir of Clare College Cambridge (UK) Doors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. Thirty-two voices-strong, the fresh young vocalists of the Choir of Clare College give a complete performance of Tomas Luis de Victoria’s 1605 Requiem – widely considered one of the last great masterworks of the Renaissance – interwoven with English […]

Constantinople (MONTREAL) Marco Beasley tenor (ITALY) Kiya Tabassian setar and direction Doors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. Italian, Ottoman, and Persian songs are interwoven in Majmua, an early-17th century manuscript from Constantinople compiled by the Polish musician and orientalist Albert Bobowski (Ali Ufki). Bobowski revels in shifting among languages and styles. […]

The Oct 5 Imaginario concert has unfortunately been cancelled due to last minute illness of artist. EMSI apologizes for any inconvenience this has caused to our patrons. Please contact: info@EarlyMusicSocietyoftheIslands.ca for further information   Armonía Concertada (SPAIN) María Cristina Kiehr soprano Ariel Abramovich vihuela de mano Two of Europe’s leading performers of Early Music showcase […]

Haydn, Beethoven, von Weber Eric Hoeprich classical clarinet London Haydn Quartet (UK) The programme features Franz Joseph Haydn’s beloved “Lark” Quartet, Beethoven’s early Quartet in F Major, Op. 18, No. 1, and Carl Maria von Weber’s Clarinet Quintet in B♭ Major, Op. 34. A rare opportunity to hear the world’s authority on classical clarinet together […]