The year 2026 marks the 400th anniversary of the death of John Dowland (1563-1626), one of the leading composers of Shakespearean England.
To commemorate this anniversary, Library Week Autumn 2026 will feature a lecture concert presenting Dowland’s works and music enjoyed in his time, accompanied by commentary and informed by period performance practices.
Come and enjoy the sounds of England from 400 years ago!
【Performers】
Vocal: Kei Takahisa (Toho Gakuen School of Music Library)
Graduated from the Department of Political Science, College of Law and Politics, Rikkyo University. Completed the master’s program in the Graduate School of Literature at Aoyama Gakuin University, specializing in the history of Western music. Studied musicology under Teruhiko Nasu, with a particular focus on English music of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Master’s thesis: On J. Dowland’s Translation of Ornithoparchus’s Micrologus.
Member of the Medieval-Renaissance Music History Research Group. Publications with the group include a complete Japanese translation and commentary of Guido d’Arezzo’s Micrologus (Shunjusha). Has translated works by James Grier (The Critical Editing of Music: History, Method, and Practice) and Robert Toft (With Passionate Voice: Re-creative Singing in Sixteenth-Century England and Italy) into Japanese, both published by Dowa Shoin.
Member of the Musicological Society of Japan, The Lute Society (UK), the Lute Society of America, the Japan Lute Society, and the Renaissance Society of America. Currently a librarian at the Toho Gakuen School of Music Library.
Lute: Jonas Timson (Waseda University Library)
Graduated from the Western History Program, School of Letters, Arts and Sciences I, Waseda University. Completed the master’s program in the Graduate School of Literature at Aoyama Gakuin University, specializing in the history of Western music. Studied music history under Teruhiko Nasu, with a particular focus on English music of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Master’s thesis on the autobiography of Thomas Whythorne, a sixteenth-century English musician, examining contemporary views of music and the social environment of musicians in sixteenth-century England. Also interested in the dating of medieval Western music manuscripts.
Studied classical guitar under Ermanno Bottiglieri and Gaku Yamada; self-taught on the lute. Member of the Musicological Society of Japan. Has worked at Waseda University since 2009 and currently works at the University Library.
【Venue】
Central Library, the hall leading to the Grand Staircase
★Questionnaire ＆ Gift★
Participants who complete the questionnaire will receive an original Waseda University Library gift.
