Divisions on an Ayre, Lute Songs and Instrumental Music circa 1600 $3.86

About Divisions on an Ayre, Lute Songs and Instrumental Music circa 1600

The English air for solo voice and lute is one of the happiest mediums for lyric poetry ever conceived. Baritone William Sharp joins the Folger Consort in lute airs by John Dowland and other English composers, and a selection of elegant songs from France and Italy of the same period. The instrumentalists of the Folger Consort enliven this collection of songs with dances, divisions, and fantasies from the end of the 16th century.

The Folger Consort is ensemble-in-residence at the Folger Shakespeare Library, a leading center for medieval and Renaissance studies in Washington, DC, where it has established one of the most successful early music concert series in the United States. Its founding members are Robert Eisenstein (bowed strings), Christopher Kendall (lute), and Scott Reiss (recorders, percussion).

William Sharp (baritone) was winner of the Carnegie Hall International American Music Competition and the Geneva International Competition for Singers. He has performed extensively in the United States and abroad as a recitalist, soloist with orchestra, in chamber music, and as opera singer, in repertoire ranging from medieval to contemporary.