Van Diemen’s Band – Cloak & Dagger
October 27 @ 6:30 pm - 7:45 pm AEDT
$30 – 45 per ticket
Buried secrets, double meanings and encrypted emotions from England’s most turbulent century, vividly brought to life by “Australia’s Baroque supergroup” (The Australian).
Music can be as simple as a love song. But if you keep digging down through its notes and phrases you’ll find buried secrets, double meanings and encrypted emotions. In the 17th Century, the power of songs to conceal communications and courier clandestine messages was used to spread political propaganda, revealed signs of witchcraft and privately practise banned religions.
In typical VDB style, Cloak & Dagger recontextualises these songs for the modern day, opening a portal into the hearts and minds of people in an age of political turmoil, religious upheaval and social revolt – all themes that continue to resonate today.
Curated by VDB Artistic Director Julia Fredersdorff, this fascinating new program traverses songs by John Dowland, witches dances, hop-soaked protest songs from bawdy taverns, new settings of the propaganda-laden Broadside Ballads, and Henry Purcell’s beloved “Dido’s Lament” from Dido & Aeneas.
Featuring guest vocalists Lotte Betts-Dean (23-27 Oct) and Quin Thomson (28 Oct), Cloak & Dagger is performed by some of Australia’s most respected musicians on gut strings and instruments of the past.