Signs and Secrets

2026 marks the 400th anniversary of the death of John Dowland, Elizabethan England’s greatest lute-songster and Dowland’s Foundry’s eponym. World famous in his own lifetime, Dowland enjoyed widespread fame, aided to no little extent by his four books of songs, published over twenty years to spectacular success. This programme is devoted to Dowland’s First (1597) and Second (1600) Books of Songs or Ayres, and takes as its point of departure the Elizabethan court – a murky world indeed of signs and secrets.

Dowland’s Foundry:
Sam Brown – Lute
Gwen Martin – Soprano
Clemmie Franks – Alto
Daniel Thomson – Tenor
Timothy Dickinson – Bass