The Salish Sea Early Music Festival evolved from Concert Spirituel, which since the early 1980s in Seattle and Chicago has featured harpsichordists Elisabeth Wright, George Shangrow, David Schrader and John Whitelaw (Belgium), violinists Stanley Ritchie and Jorg Michael Schwarz, lutenists Stephen Stubbs and John Schneiderman, gambists Susan Napper and Mary Springfels and cellist Elaine Scott Banks.

Unpublished works from the Library of Congress and other libraries and unusual instruments and instrumental combinations that were familiar in earlier times are given particular attention. From 1725 until 1790, the Concert Spirituel in Paris offered outstanding sacred, orchestral and chamber music performances presented by the leading instrumentalists and composers of Europe, often featuring the most innovative new music of the day. In this spirit we are excited to present the fifth annual Salish Sea Early Music Festival.