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John Dowland, one of the most celebrated English Renaissance composers and lutenists, perhaps also one of the most important figures in the history of early European music in general, on the eve of the 400th anniversary of his death, still fascinates, enthralls and inspires generations of musicians, performers and composers alike, and remains a key figure in creating a template for the development of contemporary concert music, at least in the domain of the concert guitar repertoire. At first, this dichotomy between old music (or even ancient, by some standards) and what we now call contemporary music seems irreconcilable, but we might have been led on the wrong path by only focusing on their key differences. As a brilliant performer, as well as a composer, Dowland (through his entire ouvre) teaches us the importance of honoring our predecessors and their legacy, honing our performance skills, and finally the importance of giving an honourable contribution to our craft which would be of practical use to future generations of artists, whether it be performers or composers. And even though it might seem that contemporary music has lost its contact with the deeply set historical roots, this is simply not the case. Older generations of composers still exert crucial influence on contemporary artists and their works require careful revision; it is important to continue to find new ways of interpreting them and through this process finding a source of inspiration for new concert works.

This project aims to address exactly this issue and its main goal is to seek out strong connections between old and contemporary music, through the interpretation and analysis of the works by the 16th century Renaissance composer and lutenist, John Dowland, and a comparative analysis with contemporary works which employ similar compositional techniques.