Mark Cudek and Friends

Pastime with good company

Politics, Substance Abuse, and Improvisation in 17th-century England, France, and Italy

Sunday, May 31, 2026 | 3:00 PM
Basile Opera Center
4011 N. Pennsylvania St.
Indianapolis, IN 46205

FREE Spring CONCERT

Music by Henry VIII, John Dowland, Tobias Hume, Thomas D’Urfey, Thomas Weelkes, and Anonymous

This program is presented in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Mark’s first professional recital (and his 20th Summer at IEMF).

This program features a wide variety of 16th and 17th-century secular music, including drinking and smoking songs, a discussion and demonstration of early improvisation, and English ballads about the execution of Thomas Cromwell, the “Rump” Parliament, and the “Popish Plot.”

Warning: this program contains early Fake News!

Michael Manganiello, baritone
Mara Yaffee, soprano
William Simms, lute
Mark Cudek, bass viol & cittern