The Token Creek Chamber Music Festival was established in 1989 by artistic directors John and Rose Mary Harbison. For 33 years it was an annual late August series taking place at the Harbisons’ sylvan summer retreat on rural family property near Madison, Wisconsin. Spanning almost two weeks, Festival events included concerts, lecture-recitals, open rehearsals, and forums on literature, science, and ecology.

This distinguished series, “one of the most important annual classical musical events in Madison” (The Capital Times), earned a well-deserved reputation for its unique and imaginative programming, an impressive roster of artists, the welcoming beauty of its unique performance space, and a passionate commitment to artistry of the highest integrity, and to the essential potent connection between art work, performers, and listeners.

The 2022 season marked Token Creek’s final one as a distinctly summer festival. Suitably celebratory programming that year launched a quiet phase of re-invention during the ensuing year.

Returning in 2024 under the slightly revised name Token Creek Chamber Music, newly re-imagined, you can expect to find expanded programming, both in content and on the calendar. We’ll embark on a variety of artistic and presenting partnerships in a series that evolves organically as opportunities arise throughout the year, not just in summer.

The core values that distinguished the original Festival will shape all endeavors going forward. Token Creek will continue to create and preserve a magical space that fosters earnest interaction between performers, audience, and the music itself, welcoming all, and appreciated by anyone who values the intimacy and intensity of the encounter, whether new to chamber music or experienced connoisseurs.

The beautiful rural setting, with nearby Token Creek meandering through wooded glades and abundant flower gardens, the unique performance space in the comfortably rustic barn that serves as recital hall, the distinctive programming vision that characterizes the choice of artists, repertoire, and events, and the exceptionally high quality of the musicians who perform here – these will continue to offer an altogether enchanting, richly rewarding, and quite unforgettable chamber concert experience.

Welcome back.

(January 2024)