The concert series was born in October 1984, with a standing-room only performance by concert organist Steven Egler, a Dixon native now teaching at Central Michigan University. The second concert featured a then-unknown group called the Shanghai String Quartet, now a world-renowned ensemble and featured in Woody Allen's recent movie, Match Point. Since then, we have hosted wind ensembles, choral groups, brass choirs, guitar, early instruments, harpsichord players, organists, and even the Stockholm Men & Boys Choir. Artists have come from the local area and around the world, offering music as diverse as the familiar cadences of a Brandenburg Concerto and the 12-tone dissonance of the Stravinsky Mass.

The joint brain-child of Curt Schmitt and the late Carol McKinley Shaw, the series has been offered to the community free of charge from its inception. The concert series is now managed by The Canterbury Music Society, Ltd., a non-profit corporation founded in March 2002. In addition to running the series, the Music Society operates our own Canterbury Singers, a regional choral group specializing in British music. Recently, we have expanded our scope with a series of concerts at Philander Hall. World-famous jazz pianist Judy Carmichael kicked things off in January 2005, and we are continuing with piano recitals and chamber concerts. The free concerts are funded by a generous grant from The Canterbury Foundation of Dixon, Illinois, Ltd. (an independent group) and gifts from our many individual contributors. We are especially indebted to our host, Saint Luke's Episcopal Church, for sharing their beautiful building with us.