Submitted by event organizers.

The 2025 Salish Sea Early Music Festival presents its second program of eight in Eastsound through July in its 2025 festival of early chamber music performed on period instruments. Bach and Telemann: The Chaconne with Les Voix Humaines features the internationally highly praised viola da gamba duo “Les Voix Humaines.” Viola da gambists 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 concert, presented in collaboration with Orcas Adventist Fellowship Church, takes place on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. at Orcas Adventist Fellowship Church at 107 Enchanted Forest Road in Eastsound. Admission is by suggested donation (a free-will offering) of $20-$30. Those 18 and under are free. All are welcome regardless of donation. For additional information please see www.salishseafestival.org/orcas.

Please see our complete schedule below of all 2025 performances at Orcas Adventist Fellowship Church in Eastsound this season through early July, and a list of all three performances on Orcas, Lopez and San Juan Islands.

The hypnotic French chaconne that developed during the reign of Louis XIV transports 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.

Bach and Telemann succeeded in bringing this chaconne to a whole new level, as we’ll experience in the chaconne titled “Modéré” from Telemann’s Paris Quartet No. 12 in E Minor for flute, pardessus de viole, viola da gamba and harpsichord, and with Les Voix Humaines in their very own transcription of Bach’s Chaconne in D Minor for two viola da gambas, originally for solo violin. An outstanding quartet for two viola da gambas, flute and harpsichord and a second Paris Quartet by Telemann, No. 10, are to be included in addition to the ensemble’s own transcription of Bach’s Sonata for obbligato harpsichord and violin for pardessus de viol, flute, viola da gamba and harpsichord.

Elisabeth Wright.