Wigmore Hall and Iestyn Davies to Celebrate John Dowland's 400th Anniversary

Wigmore Hall will mark the 400th anniversary of the death of John Dowland (1563–1626) with a weekend of music celebrating the master of the Elizabethan lute song and his enduring legacy.

Across six concerts from 27 to 29 March 2026, Iestyn Davies and lutenist Thomas Dunford, joined by special guests, illuminate the work of the composer whose distinctive melancholy helped define Elizabethan England before falling into obscurity after his death. Rediscovered by Benjamin Britten in the 20th Century Dowland continues to resonate four centuries on, inspiring musicians from Sting to Elvis Costello.

Audiences will hear all four of Dowland’s songbooks in full, alongside instrumental works, devotional music, and modern reflections on his legacy by Thomas Adès, Benjamin Britten and Nico Muhly.

Dowland’s Firste Booke of Songes or Ayres of Fowre Parts (1597) established his reputation and was among the most successful music publications of the Elizabethan age. His influence extended into the Jacobean era, and in 1612 he was appointed one of King James I’s lutenists. By the time of his death in 1626, however, the lute’s dominance was waning in favour of the violin, keyboard instruments and the Baroque guitar. Dowland’s music – so closely bound to the instrument that defined him – gradually faded from view and remained little heard for nearly 300 years, until its 20th‑century rediscovery by Benjamin Britten. Britten built major works around Dowland’s music and gave some of the first modern performances of his songs at the Aldeburgh Festival, treating them not as historical artefacts but as living art, and restoring Dowland to the repertoire.

Iestyn Davies and Thomas Dunford open the celebrations on Friday 27 March with songs from A Musical Banquet (1610), including Dowland’s In Darkness Let Me Dwell alongside Nico Muhly’s 2018 arrangement of Dowland’s Time stands still. 12 Ensemble with clarinettist Jonathan Leibovitz perform Thomas Adès’s Lachrymae (2021), and violist Hélène Clément performs Britten’s Lachrymae (1976). Guitarist Laura Snowden completes the programme with Britten’s Nocturnal after John Dowland (1964).

Saturday 28 March is devoted to complete performances of Dowland’s first three Bookes of Songes and Ayres (1597, 1600, 1603), performed across three concerts and featuring many of his best-known songs including Flow, my tears, Can she excuse my wrongs and Come, heavy sleep performed by Iestyn Davies and Thomas Dunford with soprano Mary Bevan, tenor Thomas Hobbs and bass‑baritone Neal Davies