Time Stands Still

This recital, devised and performed by longstanding collaborators and early music specialists Kieran White and Cédric Meyer, marks the 400th anniversary of two masters of English lute song, John Dowland (1563–1626) and John Danyel (1564–1626). Following the release of their critically-acclaimed album, Time Stands Still (March 2026), Kieran and Cédric were featured live on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune.

The programme explores a range of unique musical colours, and the songs are deliberately performed in keys higher than originally published to match more closely Kieran’s enchanting haute-contre voice. To achieve this, he is accompanied on special lute (based on an extant Italian model from 1592), handmade by Cédric from woods specifically chosen to compliment Kieran’s voice. The result is a very personal personal blend of tone and style.

British Tenor Kieran White has received praise for his ‘extraordinary emotional clarity’ (Opera Magazine) and ‘pure, luminous tenor voice’ (The Guardian), while 'superb’ (Plays To See) Swiss-French lutenist Cédric Meyer has been described as ‘a veritable microcosm of consort colour enlivened by shakes and agogics of the most refined variety’ (Gramophone). As a duo, they have performed together for many years in recitals, concerts and opera productions across the UK, France, Italy and Switzerland, and it is now their great pleasure to share this beautiful and intimate programme as two dear friends.

This recital, named after Dowland’s famous song, ‘Time Stands Still’, offers a selection of lute songs (or ‘ayres’) that combine some of the finest English music and poetry in songs that are filled with love, reflection and Dowland’s own signature brand of melancholy. A number of solo instrumental pieces, contribute a complimentary taste of the highly refined art of lute playing at the turn of the 17th century.

John Dowland is acknowledged as the premier secular lute song composer of his generation and the pieces selected for this recital are taken from his three Bookes of Songes or Ayres and A Musicall Banquet, published between 1597 and 1610 respectively. The texts are predominantly by anonymous authors or possibly Dowland himself.

The vocal music of John Danyel survives in a single volume, First Booke of Songes or Ayres, published in 1606. Some of the texts are written by his own brother, the famous renaissance poet Samuel Daniel. These few extant pieces beautifully illustrate the uniquely sensitive mind of a skilfull composer whose music is considered amongst the best of its time by early music specialists.