Jonathon Adams: "In Darkness" - The Lute Songs of John Dowland

Join us for an in person performance of the Lute Songs of John Dowland performed by Jonathon Adams (baritone) and Lucas Harris (lute).

This concert is taking place on the ancestral and living lands of the Coast Salish Peoples.

COVID GUIDELINES (as of January 10, 2022):

• All guests, staff, and performers must be fully vaccinated
• All guests and staff will be required to wear a mask at all times
• There will be no intermission in order to reduce crowding into smaller spaces

about baritone Jonathon Adams

Born in amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton, Canada), Jonathon Adams is an Indigenous (Cree-Métis) baritone. In concert, they have appeared as a soloist with Sigiswald Kuijken, Hans-Christoph Rademann, Helmut Rilling, Václav Luks, Ensemble BachPlus, Vox Luminis, il Gardellino, and B’Rock Orchestra at Opera-Ballet Flanders. In 2021 Jonathon was named the first ever artist-in-residence at Early Music Vancouver.

Future solo engagements include performances with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra under Masaaki Suzuki, the Ricercar Consort and Collegium Vocale Gent, il Gardellino, Les Voix Humaines, Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montréal, Servir Antico and the Portland Baroque Orchestra. 2022 will see the world premiere of Adams’ performance piece nipahimiw with Susie Napper and Catalina Vicens at venues across Canada. Jonathon is a featured soloist in the film MESSIAH / COMPLEX produced by Against the Grain Theatre and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

During 2020 and 2021 Jonathon held a fellowship with the Netherlands Bach Society. Jonathon was a core member of Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir for many years, appearing regularly with this ensemble around the world. Recent career highlights include a solo début at the Bruges Concertgebouw in Purcell’s Ode to St. Cecilia, Bach cantatas at Snape Maltings Concert Hall, and concerts with Amsterdam Baroque in China, Japan, and at the Château de Versailles.

Jonathon is based in Canada and The Netherlands. They have attended The Royal Academy of Music (London), the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, and The Victoria Conservatory of Music where they studied with Nancy Argenta. They also studied privately with Dame Emma Kirkby, and Edith Wiens. At the Dutch National Opera Academy Jonathon studied with Rosemary Joshua and Olivier Lallouette.

about lutenist Lucas Harris

Lucas Harris began his musical life playing equal amounts of jazz and classical guitar as a teen in his hometown of Phoenix, Arizona. He discovered the lute during his undergraduate studies at Pomona College, where he graduated summa cum laude. He then studied early music in Italy at the Civica scuola di musica di Milano (as a scholar of the Marco Fodella Foundation), then in Germany at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen. After several years in New York City, Lucas moved to Toronto in 2004, becoming a Canadian citizen in 2017. In Toronto he has been the regular lutenist for the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra for more than two decades, and performs with many other ensembles in the USA and Canada including the Smithsonian Chamber Players and the Helicon Foundation. He is also a founding member of the Toronto Continuo Collective, the Vesuvius Ensemble. and the Lute Legends Ensemble.

In 2014 Lucas completed graduate studies in choral conducting at the University of Toronto, the degree having been largely funded by a prestigious Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grant not often awarded to performers. Upon graduating, Lucas was chosen as the Artistic Director of the Toronto Chamber Choir (which celebrated its 50th anniversary season in 2018-2019), for which he has developed and conducted over twenty themed concert programs (see this site’s “Conducting” page for a list). He has also directed projects for the Pacific Baroque Orchestra, the Ohio State University Opera Program, Les voix baroques, and the Toronto Consort.

For many years Lucas has been on faculty at the Tafelmusik Summer and Winter Baroque Institutes as well Oberlin Conservatory’s Baroque Performance Institute and has also taught for Vancouver Early Music’s Baroque Vocal Programme, the International Baroque Institute at Longy, and Amherst Early Music. Lucas was praised for his work with Les voix humaines in Montréal: “The revelation of the concert was the Torontonian lutenist Lucas Harris, who weaved a poetic thread through his infinitely subtle interventions. The sweetness and patience of his playing . . . was astonishing.” (Le Devoir)

Lucas lives in Toronto with his wife, Baroque violinist Geneviève Gilardeau, and their daughter Daphnée (age 9).