The Dryden Ensemble to Presents THE MOST FAITHFUL COMPANION: LUTE AND GUITAR TRIOS FROM THE 17TH CENTURY

The Dryden Ensemble will present THE MOST FAITHFUL COMPANION: LUTE AND GUITAR TRIOS FROM THE 17TH CENTURY on Friday, March 6 at 7:30 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 50 Cherry Hill Road, Princeton. Admission is free, with donations accepted.

Artistic Director Daniel Swenberg will be joined by Adam Cockerham and Dušan Balarin in a program for Renaissance and Baroque lutes and Baroque guitars in a range of sizes and tunings. The concert features rarely heard trio works by John Dowland, Henry Purcell, Alessandro Piccinini, Maurizio Cazzati, Francesco Corbetta, Ludwig von Radolt, and Georg Muffat.

The program opens with a suite of Renaissance lute trios by John Dowland, marking the 400th anniversary of the composer’s death. Highlights include Piccinini’s canzona for three lutes of differing sizes and tunings, Cazzati’s Balletto Quarto, and selections from Nicola Matteis’s False Consonances of Music. The ensemble will also perform music from Purcell’s Dioclesian, including Two Parts on a Ground, and guitar works by Francesco Corbetta.

The concert continues with works for three Baroque lutes, including the North American premiere of Ludwig von Radolt’s Concerto I in D Minor from his 1701 collection The Most Faithful Companion. The program concludes with Georg Muffat’s Passacaglia in G, adapted for the Radolt ensemble.

Dušan Balarin specializes in historical lutes and guitars and has collaborated with artists and ensembles including Les Arts Florissants, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Opera Lafayette, and Sonnambula. Adam Cockerham, a specialist in theorbo, lute, and Baroque guitar, performs widely as a continuo player and chamber musician and teaches at Rowan University. Daniel Swenberg performs on a wide range of historical plucked instruments and has appeared with the Metropolitan Opera, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and other major ensembles. He has served on the faculty of Juilliard’s Historical Performance program since 2015.