upcoming workshop

Spring in person workshop — April 26, 2025

Join us at St. Anne’s Episcopal Church in Lincoln MA, on April 26, 2025 for “Dowland: A World of Music for Viol Consorts.” This is a full-day, in-person workshop on the music of John Dowland directed by Carol Lewis, viol, and Chris Henriksen, plucked strings, along with coaches Karen Burciaga, Guinevere Fridley, and James Perretta, viols, and Matthew Wright, plucked strings.

Register and pay online

Many of us are very familiar with the works of the great John Dowland, who left us with an enormous number of splendid lute solos, songs, and pieces for viol consort. Central among these are the dances that originated as solos for lute (including Dowland’s most famous piece, Lachrimae Pavan), and then were reworked by the composer and his peers into part-songs for 2 to 5 voices, as well as into consort music with lute–sometimes even with parts for wire-strung instruments like cittern, bandora, and orpharion.

Join us for a day of exploring Dowland’s world of 4- and 5-part dances, with wonderful pavans, galliards, and almaines by Dowland himself, and even some arrangements of his music by Thomas Simpson and others. We’re fortunate to have with us two fine lutenists who can coach as well as play along with the viols. We’ll begin with a demonstration of some of the 4-part music with lutes, and then you will get a chance to experience, hands-on, this great consort repertory.

Schedule

9:30-10:00am Registration & coffee 

10:00-10:45am Lecture/Demonstration

11:00am-12:15pm
Class 1

12:15-1:15pm
Lunch 

1:15-2:30pm
Class 2

2:45-4:00pm
Class 3

  • Pitch is A=440
  • Bring your own lunch! Coffee will be provided. You are welcome to bring cookies or other food to share, but let us know in advance if your item requires any serving or individual portion size utensils, plates, or bowls.
  • Bring a music stand.
  • Beginning players are welcome. We will offer Intro to the Viol and/or Ensemble Skills classes if there is enough interest. 
  • Music PDFs will be available for you to print at home or download to your tablet ahead of time.
  • Masks encouraged. Please do not attend if you don’t feel well; your registration fee will be refunded or applied to a future event, or you may make it a donation to VdGS-NE. 

 

Register by April 10to reserve a spot! Late registrants will be accepted only if space is available. You may also register on paper using the flyer.