PORT TOWNSEND — The Salish Sea Early Music Festival will start its season at 2 p.m. Saturday.
The concert will be at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 1020 Jefferson St.
Admission is by suggested donation: $15, $20 or $25 (a free will offering); those younger than age 18 will be admitted free.
Saturday’s performance will feature the baroque flute and lute in a tour of 18th century Germany, France and Italy with musicians John Lenti and Jeffrey Cohan, the festival’s artistic director.
The works of Handel, Vivaldi, Blavet and others will be featured.
The Salish Sea Early Music Festival features period instrument specialists from North America and Europe in chamber music from the Renaissance through the time of Beethoven on period instruments.
The festival is affiliated with Early Music America, which celebrates early music and its performance in North America.
The festival has presented many first performances in modern times of period instrument renditions of early works.
Future concerts in this Salish Sea Early Music Festival season are:
• Feb. 23 — Early 19th century Trios: Music from Beethoven’s time performed on instruments from Ludwig’s time with Oleg Timofeyev (guitar), Steven Creswell (viola) and Jeffrey Cohan (8-keyed flute).
• March 23 — Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sonatas for Flute and Harpsichord: Hans-Jürgen Schnoor (harpsichord) and Jeffrey Cohan (baroque flute) will perform Bach’s sonatas, the best-know works ever for flute and keyboard.
• April 28 — Baroque Winds: Chamber music for recorder, oboe, bassoon and flute with Vicki Boekman (recorder), Sand Dalton (oboe), Anna Marsh (bassoon), Jeffrey Cohan (baroque flute) and Jonathan Oddie (harpsichord).
• May 5 — JEST: an oldies but goodies program of 18th century masterworks by Bach, Rameau and others with the many-decades-seasoned Jeffrey-Elisabeth-Susie Trio, featuring Susie Napper (viola da gamba), Elisabeth Wright (harpsichord) and Jeffrey Cohan (baroque flute).
• May 26 — Bach’s Triple Concerto: Carrie Krause (baroque violin), Courtney Kuroda (baroque violin), Steven Crewell (baroque viola), Caroline Nicolas (baroque cello) and Jonathan Oddie (harpsichord) will perform.
• June 9 — Early 17th century Canzonas: Transitional late renaissance/early baroque chamber music with Anna Marsh (dulcian or renaissance bassoon), Shulamit Kleinerman (renaissance violin), John Lenti (theorbo and baroque guitar) and Jeffrey Cohan (renaissance transverse flute).
• June 23 — Late 18th century quartets: Jonathan Oddie (harpsichord), Stephen Creswell (violin and viola), Caroline Nicolas (cello) and Jeffrey Cohan (one-keyed flute) perform little-heard quartets by J.C. Bach, Joseph Haydn, C.P.E. Bach and others.
Additional information is available at www.salish seafestival.org/port townsend.
