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The Marais Project Performs Dowland
December 4, 2022 @ 3:00 pm
The Marais Project presents a selection of the finest English songs in A Pilgrime’s Solace: Dowland’s last songs & Danyel’s funeral tears. Featuring tenor Koen van Stade with lutenist Tommie Andersson and Jenny Eriksson playing the viola da gamba, the concerts celebrate the extraordinary composer and lutenist, John Dowland (1563–1626) whose popularity endures nearly 400 years after he died.
On the program is a selection of songs from A Pilgrime’s Solace (Dowland’s fourth collection) as well as John Danyel’s (1564 – 1626) funeral tears. Dowland’s moving explorations of love and melancholy have continued to entrance audiences and musicians alike. More recent evidence of this this ongoing infatuation includes rock artist Sting’s 2006 album Songs from the Labyrinth, a release that stimulated renewed interest in Dowland, the unlikely Elizabethan-era pop star.
Performances of these songs are rare in Sydney as the music makes great interpretative demands on the singer and requires an equally talented lutenist to bring Dowland’s sophisticated accompaniments to life. The bass viol is also frequently used to accompany music of this period. The Marais Project is proud to once again offer music lovers the opportunity to hear these songs live.
Dutch born tenor, van Stade, has worked with Collegium Vocale Gent and The Amsterdam Baroque Choir. With these groups he recorded over 70 CDs, of which several were awarded international prizes. With the Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam he participated in the premiere recording of the complete works of Dutch composer Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck. He recently completed a PhD at the University of Sydney, where he holds a position as Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Historical Performance Faculty.
There will be a streamed concert on 4pm Saturday 3rd December, 2022 on Australian Digital Concert Hall.
Live performance in Sydney the following day at the Choirs Rehearsal Studio, Walsh Bay Arts Precinct Wharf 4/5, 15 Hickson Rd Dawes Point NSW 2000. The Choirs Rehearsal Studio is behind the STC Box Office in the breezeway opposite the Sydney Dance Company.
Read about The Marais Project’s new album Australian Monody, released earlier this year.