Our Story

Thirty-one years ago, an inventive and musical family dreamed up an idea for a unique sort of chamber music festival.  Instead of a typical city location, this one would be held among the fields and farms of the Saanich Peninsula.  Larry and Dayna Fisher, both retired university music professors, selected a rustic old community hall.  They then convinced their musician friends from near and far that they simply must come and play, and created a friendly, informal, yet musically first-rate series.  They sold excellent home-baked cookies at the concession; Larry would heavily promote that week’s special, such as the ‘Mozart Macaroon’, or the Snickerdoodle Sonata’.

As years passed and the audience grew, Eine Kleine Summer Music moved a short distance up the road into a more comfortable hall, the newly built Unitarian church across from the Red Barn Market on West Saanich Road.  Eventually some of the musicians found that they also loved the acoustics, intimacy, and views at some of our local wineries, so EKSM began to repeat some of the concerts at our favourite vintners every summer.

Since the Fishers left Vancouver Island in 1992, Artistic Directorship of the series has been in the hands of Martin Bonham (1992-1998), Laura Backstrom and Pierre Cayer (1999-2015) and Laura Backstrom and Lorraine Min (2016-present).  Along with EKSM’s excellent volunteer board members, the Artistic Directors strive to maintain the charm of ‘Chamber Music in the Country’ while continuously reaching new heights of musical excellence.