Programme

John Dowland (1563-1626)

Lachrimæ Lyræ, tears of exile

Vega

Lachrimæ Antiquæ

Lachrimæ Antiquæ Novæ

Sheliak

Lachrimæ Gementes

Lachrimæ Tristes

Lachrimæ Coactæ

Lachrimæ Amantis

Lachrimæ Veræ

Sulafat

Sir John Souch his Galliard

Aladfar

The King of Denmark Galliard

Giles Hobies his Galliard

Captaine Digorie Piper his Galliard

Bucton his Galliard

Alathfar

Nichols Almand

The Earl of Essex Galliard

Performers

Greek lyra: Sokratis Sinopoulos

Treble viol & direction: François Joubert-Caillet:

Tenor viol: Andreas Linos

Bass viols: Lucile Boulanger & Sarah van Oudenhove

Programme Notes

The Greek lyra, like the viola da gamba, is the instrument that most expresses melancholia. During the golden ages of their history, both instruments were used to express this feeling, this state of the soul that has nourished so much music and goes beyond words.

Moreover both instruments, at different periods and in different circumstances, have been used for the same purpose and have shared the same destiny. If it is impossible to discover a historical link between the lyre and the viola, it is nevertheless remarkable how similar they are, almost like sisters unknown to one another, never meeting, but each evolving as the echo of the other, in different countries, expressing and experiencing the same things with a few centuries’ difference.

Played by Greek musicians in Constantinople from the time of the Byzantine Empire up until the XVIIth century, the lyre developed a repertory marked by this exile in the Ottoman empire, a nostalgia and homesickness that can be found in John Dowland’s work, himself exiled in Denmark during the years when he was composing the Lachrimæ.

This programme plans to mirror these two instruments with their Elizabethan or Byzantine-Ottoman worlds and also tell the cathartic story of the happy metamorphosis from darkness to light and lamentation to fete. This music will also be an echo of the tears spread by millions of people forced into exile today.

Biographies

Sokratis Sinopoulos: Greek Lyra

Greek musician Sokratis Sinopoulos is a contemporary master of the lyra, a small bowed instrument that dates back to the Byzantine era. His playing is delicate and nuanced yet highly expressive, and his proficiency on the instrument has been widely acclaimed. Sinopoulos has collaborated with numerous musicians throughout the world. He's equally comfortable crossing genre boundaries into jazz and classical, as he is to staying true to folk traditions of Greece and Eastern Mediterranean.

Born in Athens in 1974, he studied Byzantine music and classical guitar as a child, and began playing the lyra in 1988, under the instruction of Ross Daly. Sinopoulos' remarkable talent was immediately apparent, and he joined Daly's group Labyrinthos a year later. He became highly prolific, contributing to recordings by countless musicians including Eleni Karaindrou, Charles Lloyd and Loreena McKennitt. Sinopoulos was awarded the Melina Mercouri award for young artists in 1999.

In 2010, he formed Sokratis Sinopoulos Quartet with pianist Yann Keerim, bassist Dimitris Tsekouras, and drummer Dimitris Emmanouil, and encouraged the musicians to improvise freely and find musical common ground rather than trying to adhere to any specific genres of music. The debut album of the quartet “Eight Winds”, was produced by Manfred Eicher for ECM records and received excellent reviews globally.

Sokratis Sinopoulos is an assistant professor in the Department of Music Science and Art in the University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece.

François Joubert-Caillet: Direction Treble Viol

François Joubert-Caillet is today a key musician of the viola da gamba, following the early music pioneers’ steps by rediscovering forgotten beauties as well as abolishing frontiers between music with transversal projects (traditional and new music, electronics, improvisation, contemporary dance, etc.).

François Joubert-Caillet has been leading L'Achéron since 2009 on the most famous European stages and has recorded for Ricercar/Outhere many CDs, in particular the recording of Marin Marais' complete Pièces de Violes (5 Books/boxes, approximately 600 pieces, 20 CDs) awarded Diapasons d'Or and Chocs by Classica.Viola da gamba teacher at the Conservatoire de la Ville de Luxembourg, François Joubert-Caillet also created Albus Fair Editions in 2021, an independent, fair and eco-friendly publishing house, where he published his first opus of his own works for viola da gamba, Isola, as well as L'Achéron’s last album, the adaptation of Johann Sebastian Bach Orgelbüchlein for voice, viola da gamba and bandoneon.

Last release : Sainte-Colombe, fils - Pièces de Viole by Ricercar-Outhere.

L’Achéron

In Greek mythology, the Acheron is the river that Orpheus crosses to rescue Eurydice from the Underworld. As its name implies, L'Achéron wants to open a path between two apparently opposed worlds: that of the living and the dead, the past and the present, idealism and reality.

Created in 2009 by François Joubert-Caillet, L'Achéron is made up of artists from varied backgrounds: traditional music, contemporary, electronic, dance, theatre, etc. and seeks to strengthen ties between the musicians and the public by making music accessible without distorting it, painting with the richest and most sensitive palette all music, whenever and wherever it comes from.

L'Achéron has been invited to perform on the most famous stages in Europe; on record, L'Achéron has released many CDs by Ricercar-Outhere (J. Schenck, A. Holborne, S. Scheidt, O. Gibbons, JB Bach, PH Erlebach) and was awarded Diapasons d'Or, Chocs de Classica and Echo Klassik. Latest release: adaptation of Bach's Orgelbüchlein for voice, viola da gamba and bandoneon by Albus Fair Editions