In commemoration of the quadricentenary of the death of John Dowland, we are delighted to present Agents of Melancholy: Dowland & Hume,a programme curated by countertenor Mark Chambers, and featuring renowned viol player Nicholas Milne and lutenist Eamon Sweeney. 

Step into the tense artistic and political world of the Jacobeans, in the midst of the rivalry between Dowland – master of the melancholy song and Renaissance Lute, and Captain Tobias Hume, pioneer of the Lyra Viol and a career soldier.

In a longstanding professional battle, the two composers used their music and publications to forcefully express their opinions on tradition and the roles of their instruments, resulting in some of the most memorable music of the last half millennium.