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The Salish Early Music Festival has announced its line-up for its new season of presenting concerts of instrumental chamber music performed on authentic period instruments by musicians from around the world.
Created in 2011 by baroque flutist Jeffrey Cohan, the festival performs music from the 15th through 19th centuries. Cohan is one of the foremost specialists on all transverse flutes from the Renaissance through the present. He is the only person to win both the Erwin Bodky Award in Boston and the highest prize awarded in the Flanders Festival International Concours Musica Antiqua in Brugge, Belgium. He is artistic director of the Capitol Hill Chamber Music Festival in Washington, DC, the Black Hawk Chamber Music Festival in Illinois and Iowa, and the Salish Sea Early Music Festival.
“Our eight 2025 Salish Sea Early Music Festival performances in Tacoma feature an extraordinary lineup of artists both familiar and unfamiliar to us, from Ukraine, Spain, Montreal, Germany and all around the Pacific Northwest and the United States,” he said.
The festival kicks off on Monday, Feb. 24, with “Bach and Telemann: The Chaconne with Les Voix Humaines.” Possibly the most well-known and extensively recorded duo of viols internationally, Les Voix Humaines brings a highly charged program of musical masterpieces, 7 p.m. at Mason United Methodist Church, 2710 N. Madison in Tacoma.
A widely celebrated prize-winning duo of viols from Montreal, Susie Napper and Mélisande Corriveau, along with harpsichordist Elisabeth Wright and flutist Jeffrey Cohan, present a program that demonstrates the chaconne at its most poignant, and will transport three important works by Johann Sebastian Bach to an entirely new dimension through their own transcriptions, also featuring 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 carries 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.
The festival continues with “Harpsichord Mystery” on March 31. Ukrainian harpsichordist Olena Zhukova deciphers mysterious and elusive rarities as well as standards for solo harpsichord by Byrd, Couperian, Rameau and Scarlatti alongside Ukrainian gems including a sonata by Dmitry Bortnyansky.
April 7 brings “European Tour 1690-1790” with Olena Zhukova, harpsichord, and Jeffrey Cohan, baroque flute. This will be 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.
“Musique de la Chambre of Louis XIV” on May 5 features Caroline Nicolas, viola da gamba; William Simms, theorbo and baroque guitar; and Jeffrey Cohan, baroque and renaissance flutes. The king’s court musical establishment is to be represented by Jean-Baptiste Lully, Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, Marin Marais, Jacques Hotteterre, etc., including music designated for the king’s bedtime, evening concerts and banquets, with guests from New York and Baltimore.
“Concerti from the Court of Frederick the Great” on May 26 showcases the talents of David Schrader, harpsichord; Jeffrey Cohan, baroque flute; Elizabeth Phelps, baroque violin; Courtney Kuroda, baroque violin; and Lindsey Strand-Polyak, baroque viola. They will present a completely new assortment of concerti for harpsichord and flute from the illustrious members of the musical establishment of flutist Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, including CPE Bach, Johann Joachim Quantz, and the king himself.
“Beethoven’s Flute, Viola and Guitar” on June 19 will be performed by Elizabeth Blumenstock, viola; Oleg TImofeyev, 7-string guitar (Moscow, 1820); Jeffrey Cohan, 8-keyed flute (London, 1820); and outstanding violinist and violist Elizabeth Blumenstock. Repertoire abounds for this popular ensemble during Beethoven’s lifetime of guitar, viola and flute.
Experience “18th Century Harpsichord in Spain” on July 9 with solo harpsichordist Irene Roldàn. Step into the heart of 18-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 poirtuguese Carlos Seixtas.
The festival closes on July 14 with “Johann Sebastian Bach.” Spanish harpsichordist Irene Roldàn from Basel and baroque flutist Jeffrey Cohan interpret Bach’s phenomenal music for flute and harpsichord.
All concerts will be held at Mason United Methodist Church, 2710 N. Madison in Tacoma. Admission is by suggested donation of $20 to $30 (a free will offering), 18 and under free. For more information, visit salishseafestival.org/Tacoma.
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