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Richard Ollier (reader), Jonathan Spencer (counter tenor) and Mike Ashley (lute).
The great Elizabethan composer and lute player John Dowland was born 450 years ago and we celebrate this with a programme of words and music describing his life.

There are also contemporary accounts of his brilliance, and how the royalty of Europe vied for his services. On the darker side there is his amazingly obsequious letter to Sir Robert Cecil, Queen Elizabeth's Secretary of State, sent when realising that his consorting with exiled Catholics in Italy was potentially very dangerous for him. Perhaps this kind of reckless behaviour was why he never achieved the only position he really wanted - lutenist at Queen Elizabeth's court. This fascinating story is illustrated with some of his finest compositions.

©2013 Leicester Early Music.