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10/06/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/06/2025 13:39

Dunbar Early Music Festival returns to Bienen School

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Dunbar Early Music Festival returns to Bienen School

October festival features a weekend of performances, lectures and a master class

Media Information

  • Release Date: October 6, 2025

Media Contacts

Stephen J. Lewis

  • (847) 491-0844
  • Email Stephen J.

  • Programming celebrates composers John Dowland and Orlando Gibbons

  • Performances feature Grammy-winning musicians Paul O'Dette and Aaron Sheehan

  • Free events include concerts, a lecture, and a master class

EVANSTON, Ill. --- The Evelyn Dunbar Memorial Early Music Festival returns Oct. 23 - 26 at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music. This year's festival celebrates Renaissance composers John Dowland and Orlando Gibbons through lectures, concerts, a master class and special performances by internationally acclaimed artists and Bienen students.

Events include free and ticketed programming across campus, with highlights such as a lecture by early music scholar K. Dawn Grapes, a concert and master class by Grammy Award-winning lutenist Paul O'Dette and tenor Aaron Sheehan, and a series of choral and instrumental performances.

Tickets for select events are available at concertsatbienen.org, by phone at 847-467-4000, or at the Bienen School Ticket Office, 50 Arts Circle Drive.
Event details are as follows:

K. Dawn Grapes Lecture 
Thursday, Oct. 23 at 6 p.m.
Vail Chapel, 1870 Sheridan Rd.
Free

Music historian K. Dawn Grapes (Colorado State University) explores the life and legacy of Renaissance lutenist and composer John Dowland, with a focus on his iconic work "Lachrimae." This multi-media lecture honors this remarkable musician through an examination of his signature composition, how the piece reflected his unique personality within the culture of Elizabethan-Jacobean England, and his music's reception over the four centuries since his death.

Bienen Contemporary/Early Vocal Ensemble: Time Stands Still 
Friday, Oct. 24 at 7:30 p.m.
Galvin Recital Hall, 70 Arts Circle Dr. 
Tickets: $8 public and $5 students
Preconcert talk by K. Dawn Grapes at 6:30 p.m. in McClintock Choral and Recital Room

Conductor Andrew Megill leads a program pairing Dowland and Gibbons with works by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Rebecca Clarke, C. H. H. Parry, Irving Fine and a world premiere by composer Stacy Garrop.

Voices and Viols Open Dress Rehearsal 
Saturday, Oct. 25 at 10 a.m.
Alice Millar Chapel, 1870 Sheridan Rd.
Free

Preview a rehearsal of Dowland and Gibbons' works for voices and viols, conducted by Stephen Alltop.

Paul O'Dette, lute and Aaron Sheehan, tenor 
Saturday, Oct. 25 at 7:30 p.m.
Galvin Recital Hall, 70 Arts Circle Dr.
Tickets: $40 public and $15 students

Grammy-winning lutenist Paul O'Dette and tenor Aaron Sheehan perform together in a special concert highlighting music of John Dowland presented in partnership with the Segovia Classical Guitar Series.

Paul O'Dette and Aaron Sheehan Master Class 
Sunday, Oct. 26 at 10 a.m.
Regenstein Master Class Room, 60 Arts Circle Dr.
Free

Bienen students receive coaching from two of today's leading interpreters of early music.

Virginal Mini-Recital 
Sunday, Oct. 26 at 6 p.m.
Vail Chapel, 1870 Sheridan Rd.
Free

Keyboard students of Stephen Alltop perform works for the virginal, a Renaissance-era keyboard instrument.

Hosanna to the Son of David: Music of John Dowland and Orlando Gibbons for Voices and Viols 
Sunday, Oct. 26 at 7 p.m.
Alice Millar Chapel, 1870 Sheridan Rd.
Free; offerings accepted

A vocal ensemble and professional viol consort, conducted by Stephen Alltop, perform sacred and secular works, including Gibbons' Hosanna to the Son of David. The program features psalms and instrumental works by John Dowland and anthems for soloists, choir and viols by Orlando Gibbons, including "Great King of Gods," "Hosanna to the Son of David" and "See, See the Word Is Incarnate." 

Northwestern University published this content on October 06, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on October 06, 2025 at 19:39 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]