Mark your calendars and prepare for an unforgettable summer! We are absolutely thrilled to share a monumental milestone with you: the Whidbey Island Music Festival is celebrating its 20th Anniversary!

For two decades, the Whidbey Island Music Festival has been your destination for world-class musical artistry, bringing unforgettable performances and inspiring moments of baroque and classical chamber music directly to our beautiful Whidbey Island community. You've joined us for countless moments of musical joy, discovery, and inspiration, and we are so grateful for your presence at our events!

This year, you're invited to our most spectacular festival yet. Expect a program crafted especially for you, filled with beloved baroque and classical masterworks, new musical discoveries, and very special events like our Ebey’s Landing hike accompanied by your own medieval troubadours! 

We are joyfully crafting experiences that bring people together through the timeless emotional power of baroque and classical masterpieces, creating spaces where lasting connections form around shared musical discovery, and celebrating the vibrant community spirit that makes our island home so special.

We can't wait to celebrate this incredible milestone with you this summer. Your passion and appreciation for the music fuels our mission, and we look forward to creating many more wonderful musical memories together.

Thank you for being a vital part of the Whidbey Island Music Festival experience!

The Harpsichord Diaries

Bach scholar and avid baroque flutist Miguel Rodé previews three Bach cantatas that will be performed June 22 & 23. Learn about the history, the music, and stories of the texts. This multimedia FREE event takes place at the Freeland Library on Whidbey Island. Coffee and Kuchen will be served!

Our summer season begins in June with Bach! Step into a world of beauty, joy and harmony. Our summer festival brings you experiences filled with the magic of live music. Join us for a summer of musical splendor and let the music of the past inspire your present. Reserve your tickets now and prepare for an extraordinary summer exploring the golden age of baroque and classical music. We can't wait to share this musical adventure with you! 🎵🌟

Thank you for your support!

Festival Passes and single tickets are now now on sale! Visit our EVENTS page to learn more.

Deception Pass for Folkwood

About the Glorious Mysteries

The Glorious Mysteries, the final set of sonatas in the Mysteries Sonatas cycle, begins with the Resurrection and the events of Easter. This piece deploys the most unusual scordatura tuning in this cycle; it is also the strangest tuning I’ve come across in any music period. The middle strings of the violin (the A and D strings) trade places, creating a double cross – one between the bridge and the tailpiece and another cross between the pegs and the nut. This cross symbolizes Christ’s cross. On the violin the pitches normally go from the lowest string (G), then D, then A then E – all ascending in pitch. This cross creates the a situation where the pitch goes from lowest to high then low and then the highest. Rather than having 4 different pitches, Biber creates two sets of octaves – a low g paired with a higher g and a low d paired with a higher d. After a flurry of improvisatory gestures, the sonata moves into an exploration of the hymn “Surrexit Christie hodie” – Christ is risen today.

Feast of the Rosary by Albrecht Dürer, 1506.