Jeffrey Thompson,
Joanna Blendulf and Nigel North

A DAY WITH Dowland

Friday, June 19, 2026 | 7:30 PM
The Indiana History Center
450 West Ohio Street, Indianapolis, IN 46202

(Pre-Concert Chat: Begins 30 minutes before the concert)

Nigel North, lute
Jeffrey Thompson, tenor
Joanna Blendulf, viola da gamba 

Known for his haunting lute songs and deeply emotional melodies, Dowland captured the spirit of melancholy that defined an era. This concert invites audiences into an intimate evening of song, poetry, and the timeless beauty of the Elizabethan lute, all organized around a day, from morning matins to midnight.  Dowland’s First Booke of Songes (1597) was the very first publication of art songs with idiomatic accompaniment in Western music. It was so successful that it was reprinted several times, and its format was imitated by over a dozen other English composers. Tenor Jeffrey Thompson is back in the U.S. after an illustrious career in France with Les Arts Florissants (among others), and is accompanied by legendary lutenist Nigel North and eminent gambist Joanna Blendulf.

PROGRAM

A Day with Dowland
“Come again, sweet love doth now invite”

The golden morning breaks (dawn)
“This merry pleasant spring”
Sir John Smith’s Almain
“Sweet, stay awhile”
My hope is decayed
“Come away, come sweet love”

Morning matins to the Lord
In Nomine
“In this trembling shadow cast”

Cleare or cloudie (high noon)
“Time stands still”
“If she forsake me”
My Lady Hunsdon’s Puff
“Clear or cloudy”

INTERMISSION

Vanish into smoke (evening)
Queen Elizabeth’s Galliard
“He that hath no mistress”
The Spirit of Gambo
“Can she excuse my wrongs”

Day is with darkness fled (dusk)
“Mourn, mourn, day is with darkness fled”
Forlorn hope fancy
“What greater grief”
Semper Dowland, semper dolens

In heavy sleep (midnight)
“Come cheerful day”
“In darkness let me dwell”
Dowland’s Adieu for Master Oliver Cromwell
“Sorrow, stay”
“Je voudrois bien, o Cloris”
“Come, heavy sleep”