SAN JUAN ISLAND
ST.
DAVID'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH
760 Park Street in Friday Harbor
https://sjiepiscopal.org
Suggested Donation:
$20 to $30
(a free will offering - everyone
welcome)
•
18
and under FREE •

SSEMF
presents outstanding
early chamber music on San
Juan Island
thanks to your support
The
Salish Sea Early Music Festival is a
501(c)3 organization and all donations
are fully tax deductible in accordance
with the law. Your donations are
welcomed at
https://www.salishseafestival.org/donate
.
✣
With special thanks
✣
to
St. David's Episcopal Church!
|
2025
Salish Sea Early Music Festival on San Juan Island
~
Period Instrument chamber music from six centuries on
San Juan Island and around the Salish Sea ~
~ Presented in
collaboration with Brickworks and St. David's
Episcopal Church ~
~
ferry alert: Please
note that we'll start at 12:00 PM (not
12:30) on both June 14 July 12 ~
~
All Saturday
afternoons at St.
David's
★ download updated
flyer here
~
Saturday,
June 14 at 12:00
PM
(not June 7 at
12:30)
June
8-15, 2025:
—FOLK SONG
FROM THREE CENTURIES II
Renaissance
Psalms, Scottish Baroque & Folk
· Oleg Timofeyev,
renaissance lute, English guitar &
7-string guitar (1820)
· Jeffrey Cohan,
renaissance, baroque & 8-keyed
flutes (London, 1820)
Renaissance Psalms (~1620), Irish and
Scottish baroque (~1720) and folk music
as interpreted during Beethoven's
lifetime (~1820) in part II, a 100% new
program of innovative renditions of
settings from three centuries based on
popular and folk music, performed on 5
transverse flutes and three plucked
instruments.
In the early 17th century Flutist Jacob
Van Eyck and lutenist Nicolas Vallet
both wrote settings of and variations on
many of the Psalm tunes from the Geneva
Psalter of the mid-16th century that
were widely sung in churches 100 years
later. These are juxtaposed
simultaneously in a manner that sheds
new light on early 17th-century
practice.
James Oswald's "Airs for the Seasons"
consists of four collections, one for
each season, of about 24 airs or
multi-movement suites, each dedicated to
a particular flower of the season and
radiating the charming character of the
folk melodies of Oswald's native
Scotland. The wire strung English
guitar, so rarely to be heard today,
emerged around this time as one of the
most prominent instruments of home life
in England, and Oswald's airs
beautifully suit Oleg's instrument made
in 1767 alongside the one-keyed baroque
flute. Likewise, settings of the popular
tunes written specifically for the
English guitar by Scotsman Robert
Bremner and others are to be heard,
following settings from several decades
earlier of Irish and Scottish popular
melodies by Burk Thumoth and Francesco
Barsanti on baroque flute and lute.
Finally, an Eastern European 7-string
guitar made in 1820 in Russia and an
eight-keyed flute made in London in the
same year resonate to variations on
popular tunes by Englishman Charles
Nicholson, American Joseph Kennedy,
Austrian Anton Diabelli and other
virtuoso flutists and guitarists of
Beethoven’s day.
LISTEN:
Oleg Timofeyev and
Jeffrey Cohan play Drouet's God Save
the Queen on SoundCloud:
17th
Century
Nicolas
Vallet
Jacob
Van Eyck
18th
Century
James
Oswald
Francesco
Barsanti
Turlough
O'Carolan
19th
Century
Anton
Diabelli
I.T.
Norton
Early July: — THE
18TH-CENTURY HARPSICHORD IN SPAIN
(only
in Seattle, Vancouver
and Tacoma - please
see those pages on our
site)
· Irene
Roldàn, harpsichord
Step into the heart of 18th-century
Iberia, where the vibrant court of Madrid
stood as a focal point for the flourishing
of the rich keyboard music of Domenico
Scarlatti, Sebastian de Albero, Jose de
Nebra, and the Portuguese Carlos
Seixas. [only in certain locations]
Saturday, July 12 at 12:00
PM
(not
12:30 PM):
—
JOHANN
SEBASTIAN BACH
· Irene Roldàn,
harpsichord
· Jeffrey Cohan,
baroque flute
Spanish harpsichordist Irene Roldàn from
Basel and Jeffrey interpret Bach's
phenomenal music for flute and
harpsichord.

UKRAINE
Olena Zhukova
It is a great honor to feature Ukrainian
harpsichordist Olena Zhukova of
Kyiv, Ukraine, a leading harpsichordist
and a tireless ambassador of
early music in her country and
abroad during this
difficult period. She has performed
since the outbreak of full-scale war in
prominent performances sponsored by
distinguished institutions all around
Ukraine, Poland, Austria, France,
Switzerland and Czech Republic for
international festivals and in
collaboration with major artists,
orchestras and opera productions. Ms.
Zhukova is also an accomplished scholar
who published and presented more than 20
articles, while devoting herself to her
harpsichord class and chamber music
students as Associate Professor at both
the National Music Academy of
Ukraine and the Gliére Academy
of Music (Kiev), where she founded
the harpsichord class. Recent
engagements during the past few months
alone include Bach's Goldberg Variations
in the prestigious Organ Hall in
Lviv, Ukraine; the first major classical
performance for the public in Chernihiv,
Ukraine since the
outbreak of war entitled French
Music in Times of War
and sponsored by the Ambassador of
France, in a newly rebuilt performance
hall in Chernihiv that had previously
been extensively damaged by a Russian
strike at the beginning of the conflict;
and an involved program, consisting
exclusively of new music in part
composed for her by today's Ukrainian
composers, for Columbia University’s Global
Center in Paris and its Institute
for Ideas and Imagination.
Ms.
Zhukova will appear in the following two
programs:
Dates
to be announced: —
HARPSICHORD
MYSTERY
(Seattle,
Vancouver and Tacoma only)
· Elena
Zhukova,
harpsichord
The Ukrainian harpsichordist deciphers
mysterious and elusive rarities as well
as standards for solo harpsichord by
Byrd, Couperin, Rameau and Scarlatti
alongside Ukrainian gems including a
harpsichord sonata by Dmitry
Bortnyansky. [only in Seattle,
Vancouver and Tacoma]
Dates
to be announced: — EUROPEAN TOUR
1690-1790
· Elena Zhukova,
harpsichord
· Jeffrey Cohan,
baroque flute
An excursion through a century of
transformation and diversity by decade and
culture within the baroque and classical
periods, through the perspective of
composers for harpsichord and flute from
France, Italy, Scotland, Germany and
Ukraine.
|
~
Earlier concerts this 2025 season
~
Saturday,
January 18, 2025 at 12:30
PM
at St. David's Episcopal Church:
— THE
CANZONA
· Vicki Boeckman,
renaissance recorders
· Tina Chancey,
tenor viol
· Jeffrey Cohan,
renaissance transverse flutes
· Anna Marsh,
dulcian (renaissance bassoon)
Featuring special
guest renaissance specialist and
innovative improviser Tina Chancey from
Hesperus in Washington, DC, this
in-depth exploration of the Italian
four-part canzona, which blossomed in
print from 1577 through the mid 1600’s,
traces its development from 1533, when
commercial music printing was in its
infancy in Europe, through 1636 at which
point more “baroque” stylistic forms
such as the sonata and the suite had
begun to emerged. Canzonas by Florentino
Maschera (1582), Floriano Canale (1600),
Giovanni Dominico Rognoni Taegio (1605),
Antonio Troilo (1606), Giovanni Gabrieli
(1608), Girolamo Frescobaldi (1608),
Giovanni Antonio Cangiasi (1614),
Giacomo Biumi (1624), Nicolo Corradini
(1624), Giovanni Buonamente (1636) and
others are to be included in the program
along with examples of the earlier
French and Flemish songs of the early
1500's that inspired them, including
well known chansons published
specifically for instrumentalists in
1533, 1577 and 1588, among them Clement
Jannequin’s “Song of the Birds”.
Renaissance winds of three distinct
families along with the fretted viols
provide an exciting blend and a distinct
character to each of the four
intertwining musical lines.

Saturday,
February 22,
2025 at 12:30 PM:
— THE
CHACONNE with LES VOIX
HUMAINES
· Susie Napper,
viola da gamba & treble viol
· Mélisande
Corriveau, viola da gamba
& pardessus de viol
· Elisabeth
Wright, harpsichord
· Jeffrey
Cohan, baroque and
renaissance flutes
Les
Voix humaines, the
widely celebrated prize-winning duo
of viols from Montreal joins us for
a program demonstrating the chaconne
at it's most poignant, transporting
three important works by Johann
Sebastian Bach to an entirely new
level through their own
transcriptions, and presenting other
remarkable but rarely heard
repertoire for two viola da gambas,
pardessus de viol, flute and
harpsichord.
The
hypnotic French chaconne that
developed during the reign of Louis
XIV brings the listener from one
emotional realm to the next in a
regular procession of episodes that
transition gently in an emotional
direction or leap suddenly with
emotion and stark contrast, now
uplifting or sad, majestic or
introspective, hopeful or
questioning. The pulse may feel
broader, then more angular, then
running with abandon or pregnant
with poise, always cleverly evolving
in the presentation of a musical
story.
Bach
and Telemann succeed in bringing
this chaconne to a whole new level,
as we'll experience with "Les Voix
Humaines" in their very own
transcription of Bach's Chaconne
in D Minor for 2 viola da
gambas, originally for solo violin,
and in the chaconne entitled Modéré
from Telemann's Paris Quartet
No. 12 in E Minor for flute,
pardessus de viole, viola da gamba
and harpischord. Two outstanding
quartets for two viola da gambas,
flute and harpsichord celebrating
this unusual combination of
instruments will be heard alongside
two additional transcriptions: for
flute, pardessus de viol and
harpsichord of Bach's Organ
Trio Sonata in D Minor, and
for solo harpsichord of the
Allemande from Bach's D Major
Suite No. 6 for solo cello.
From
the standpoint of the Salish
Sea Early Music Festival
and as Tobias Hume asserted in
1605, "Now to use a modest
shortness, and a brief
expression of my self to all
noble spirits": Les Voix
Humaines is simply phenomenal!
In
1676, Thomas Mace accurately
expressed their sentiments: "I
have been more Sensibly,
Fervently, and Zealously
Captivated, and drawn into
Divine Raptures, and
Contemplations, by Those
Unexpressible Rhetorical,
Uncontroulable Perswasions, and
Instructions of Musicks Divine
Language."
A perfect description of their
vision of music making, Sloane
wrote c.1794: "There must be an
Order and just Proportion,
Intricacy with Simplicity in the
Component parts, Variety in the
Mass, and Light and Shadow in
the whole, so as to produce the
varied sensations of gaiety and
melancholy, of wildness and even
surprise and wonder…"
And as Thomas Mace says in 1676:
"…When we come to be Masters… we
can command all manner of Time,
at our own Pleasures; we Then
take Liberty for Humour and good
Adornment-sake, to Break Time;
sometimes Faster, sometimes
Slower, as we perceive, the
Nature of the Thing Requires,
which…adds much Grace and Luster
to the Performance."

Saturday,
March 8, 2025
at 12:30 PM:
—
FRENCH
BAROQUE TRIO SONATAS
with MUSICA ALTA RIPA
· Anne
Röhrig,
violin
· Bernward
Lohr, harpsichord
· Susie
Napper, viola da
gamba
· Jeffrey
Cohan, baroque
flute
French
trio sonatas and quartets
spanning more than 60 years,
through the reigns of Louis
XIV and Louis V, alongside a
"Paris Quartet" by Georg
Philipp Telemann, written for
Telemann's visit to Paris in
1738.
Marin
Marais (1656 – 1728)
—
Trio
C major (1682)
Jean-Baptiste Quentin, the
young (before 1690 – ca.
1742)
—
Trio
in G minor Opus 8 No. 1
(after 1729)
Louis-Gabriel Guillemain
(1705 – 1770)
—
Trio
Sonata No. 3 in D Minor
(1743)
Jean-Marie Leclair l'aîné
(1697 – 1764)
—
Violin
Sonata in A Minor
Joseph Bodin de Boismortier
(1689 – 1755)
—
Trio
Sonata Opus 37 No. 2 in e
minor (1732)
MUSICA
ALTA RIPA
Harpsichordist BERNWARD LOHR
is director of Hanover's
Musica Alta Ripa, one of
Germany's most active and
extensively recorded period
instrument ensembles. Baroque
violinist ANNE RÖHRIG, leads
the Hannoversche Hofkapelle
(the "Hanover Court
Orchestra"), another of the
premier baroque orchestras
that contributes to the
vibrant early music scene in
Hannover and Northern Germany.
“Hannover” originally evolved
from "Hohes Ufer", meaning
"high riverbank" or "Alta
Ripa" in Latin. Bernward Lohr
and Anne Röhrig are professors
at music conservatories in
both Hannover and Nuremburg,
Germany. Their more than 30
recordings have garnered many
of the most important awards
in Europe for recordings
including the Diapason Dòr,
the Cannes Classical Award,
the German Recording Critics'
Prize, and several times the
coveted Echo Klassik Award.
Both were awarded the 2002
Music Award of Lower Saxony.
Saturday,
May 3 at 12:30 PM:
— The
MUSIQUE DE LA CHAMBRE of
LOUIS XIV
· Caroline
Nicolas, viola da
gamba
· William
Simms, baroque
guitar
· Jeffrey
Cohan, baroque
flute
The
MUSIQUE DE LA CHAMBRE of
LOUIS XIV features music by
prominent soloists, all
composers, who frequently
played for Louis XIV,
including the king’s guitar
instructor Robert De Visée
and his Italian predecessor
Francesco Corbetta, along
with a favorite viola da
gambist at the court, Marin
Marais and his teacher
Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe,
as well as Élisabeth Jacquet
de La Guerre, a young
harpsichordist and one of
the few famous female
musicians of her time whose
playing and compositions
Louis deeply admired and
subsidized.
This program stands apart in
a variety of ways. Jeffrey
Cohan discovered the
earliest known French solo
specifically for the
transverse flute by the
king’s court music librarian
André Danican Philidor
L'Aisné in a relatively
unknown and as yet
unpublished manuscript which
was prepared in 1695 by
Philidor himself as a
present from Louis XIV for
the Duke of Bavaria. Marin
Marais asserted that his
music for viola da gamba
might be played on the
transverse flute, as is to
be realized in a Suite from
his first book of pieces for
viola da gamba. Similarly a
sonata by Jacquet de La
Guerre assumes new resonance
in our realization for
transverse flute, gamba and
guitar. Caroline Nicolas and
William Simms will perform
solos for viola da gamba and
guitar by De Visée, Corbetta
and Sainte-Colombe.
The French musical
perspective emulated reason
and moderation, with sensory
perception serving
comprehension. French
musicians aspired to thrill
the senses via the
intellect, in a continual
search for grace and
elegance. Dance was viewed
as the consummate expression
of the mastery of body and
mind and the epitome of
aristocratic art, as
evidenced by Louis XIV's
daily dance lessons for 20
years alongside frequent
guitar lessons. Every French
court and church musician
reflected musically their
determination to depict
refinement and true
sentiments, while dispensing
with excessive turbulence
and contrast. All of this
contrasted greatly with the
Italian focus on the direct
expression of emotions via
their virtuoso and
flamboyant approach, which
was indeed admired in some
circles in France.
Sat,
May 24 at 12:30pm
at St. David's
Episcopal Church:
—
CONCERTI
from the COURT of
FREDERICK THE GREAT
· David
Schrader,
harpsichord
· Jeffrey
Cohan,
baroque flute
· Elizabeth
Phelps,
baroque violin
· Courtney
Kuroda,
baroque violin
· Christine
Moran,
baroque viola
· Susie
Napper,
baroque cello
A concerto by Frederick
II, the monarch of Prussia
from 1740, will be
included alongside the
Suite in B Minor by Johann
Sebastian Bach, whose
visit to the king's court
in 1747 is legendary, and
concerti by Frederick's
keyboardist Carl Philipp
Emanuel Bach for both
harpsichord and flute.
|
Fantasia
11 by Giovanni Bassano (1585)
January 11, 2021
|

~ updated
June 1, 2025 ~
Suggested
Donation for all concerts:
$20 to $30
(a free will offering - everyone is
most welcome)
• 18 and under FREE •
Do you receive our email announcements
and flyers?!
Please sign our MAILING LIST (please specify FRIDAY
HARBOR)
by sending your
address and any other comments to
salishseafestival@aol.com
~ thank you!
SSEMF
banner: detail from "The
Last Time it Reached Zero"
by James
C. Holl.

SSEMF presents
outstanding early
chamber music
on period instruments thanks
to your support. |
|