During the decades before and after 1600, Milan, London and Paris were vibrant centers of chamber music activity that holds many mysteries.

That is why the Salish Sea Early Music Festival is bringing music from that era to Lopez Island. On Saturday afternoon, March 23 at 1 p.m. the third annual Salish Sea Early Music Festival continues at Grace Church with renaissance flutist Jeffrey Cohan, violinist Courtney Kuroda, violist Steven Creswell and harpsichordist Kyobi Hinami in “The Broken Consort in Milan, London and Paris.”

The program will explore late renaissance and early baroque works between 1570 and 1630 on period instruments. Between 1580 and 1628 in Milan and the surrounding region, a center of compositional activity rivaled in Italy only by Venice, the instrumental canzona blossomed in print and performance concurrently with intense development among violin makers and players. In France the “airs de cour” and extravagant court ballets from the 1570’s represented a new Italian-influenced French model of dramatic expression, which followed an increased appreciation in France earlier in the century for the interpretation of vocal music by transverse flutes and other instruments. Broken consorts of all sorts, made up of instruments from different families, were ubiquitous throughout Europe and celebrated in particular by early 17th-century English composers.

The suggested donation is $15 or $20, students for $5 and youth 18 and under are free. For more info, visit www.salishseafestival.org or call 468-3477.