John Dowland was an English Renaissance composer, lutenist, and singer. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep", "Come again", "Flow my tears", "I saw my Lady weepe", "Now o now I needs must part", and "In darkness let me dwell". His instrumental music has undergone a major revival, and with the 20th century's early music revival, has been a continuing source of repertoire for lutenists and classical guitarists.
A lute is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted.
Francesco Canova da Milano was an Italian lutenist and composer. He was born in Monza, near Milan, and worked for the papal court for almost all of his career. Francesco was heralded throughout Europe as the foremost lute composer of his time. More of his music is preserved than of any other lutenist of the period, and his work continued to influence composers for more than a century after his death.
John Johnson was an English lutenist, composer of songs and lute music, attached to the court of Queen Elizabeth I. He was the father of the lutenist and composer Robert Johnson.
The Consort of Musicke is a British early-music group, founded in 1969 by lutenist Anthony Rooley, the ensemble's Artistic Director. Members of the group have included such well-known artists as sopranos Emma Kirkby and Evelyn Tubb, alto Mary Nichols, tenors Paul Agnew, Andrew King and Joseph Cornwell, and bass Simon Grant.
Anthony Rooley is a British lutenist.
Dame Carolyn Emma Kirkby, is an English soprano and early music specialist. She has sung on over 100 recordings.
Paul Raymond O'Dette is an American lutenist, conductor, and musicologist specializing in early music.
Nigel North is an English lutenist, musicologist, and pedagogue.
Charles Daniels is an English tenor, particularly noted for his performances of baroque music. He is a frequent soloist with The King's Consort, and has made over 25 recordings with the ensemble on the Hyperion label.
Massimo Lonardi is an Italian lutenist who actively performs as soloist as well as in several ensembles all over Europe.
The Rose Consort of Viols is an English ensemble of viol players who perform mainly early consort music, including works by Orlando Gibbons, John Dowland, and Henry Purcell.
John Potter is an English tenor and academic.
Roger Harmon is an American musicologist and lutenist who taught lute at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland. He is noted for founding the Baltimore Consort in 1980 with flutist Mindy Rosenfeld, which performed successfully for several years before releasing On the Banks of the Helicon, their first album for Dorian Recordings. Roger Harmon's research has focused mainly on ancient music theory.
Rogers Henry Lewis Covey-Crump is an English tenor noted for his performances in both early music and contemporary classical music. He has sometimes been identified as an haute-contre tenor. He has performed for over 50 years in choirs and ensembles such as the Hilliard Ensemble, and as a soloist. He has been especially in demand for the part of the Evangelist in Bach's St Matthew Passion and St John Passion. He also specialises in vocal tuning, and has written articles on the subject.
Jakob Lindberg is a Swedish lutenist, performing solo, in small and large ensembles, and also directing operas, using instruments of the lute and guitar families. He is known for the first ever recording of the Complete Solo Lute Music of John Dowland as well as for recording music never before recorded, with repertoire dating back to the Renaissance period.
Shirley Rumsey is an English musician who recorded two solo CDs of Renaissance music for Naxos Records in the mid 1990s. She studied lute and voice at the Royal College of Music in London. There she became interested in solo vocal music accompanied by the lute, and she developed a career performing that repertoire. Rumsey also plays the vihuela and the Renaissance guitar. In addition to solo recitals and recordings, she collaborates with lutenist Christopher Wilson, with whom she co-directs the ensemble Kithara.
Massimo Marchese is an Italian musician, lutenist, theorbist and recording artist.
Julien Belin was a French composer and lutenist active in the second half of the 16th century; he died after 1584.
Thomas Dunford is a French lutenist. He is the son of American viola da gambist Jonathan Dunford and viola da gambist Sylvia Abramowicz.
