The Schoole of Night Berlin was formed by Frank Pschichholz and its main goal from the start has been to perform and research the repertoire of the English lute song with an emphasis on the work of John Dowland. The English repertoire can be performed with voice and lute only but very often it is especially beautiful to involve a consort of viols. Frank Pschichholz has worked on this repertoire for over fifteen years now and the music has inspired him in his other musical work. With Maria Skiba they have continuously since 2005 performed complete books of songs of John Dowland and his contemporaries.

The Schoole of Night Berlin cooperates also with other artists – working in visual arts, theatre, movement and other sound material. With the Teatr Cinema from Poland and Kaitaisha theatre from Japan they have worked on the play Hotel Dieu under the direction of Zbigniew Szumski in Tokyo.

The repertoire of The Schoole of Night Berlin consists lute song repertoire of the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries in England, French air de cour or Italian fottole as well as German repertoire. Their work is closely connected to historical and musicological research of the performed works.

 

A selection of the Schoole’s programmes:

* John Dowland, The Second Booke of Songs (1600)

* Robert Dowland’s A Musicall Banquet (1610)

* Martin Luthers Lautenlied

* Der Klang der Reformation: Polish, Lithuanian and German songs of the Reformation

* John Dowland’s The First Book of Songes (1597)

* Teutsche Liedlein (Songs from Georg Forster’s Ein Außbund schöner teutscher Liedlein zu singen und auff allerley Instrument zu gebrauchen sonderlich auserlesen, 1539)

* Alchemical Laboratorium – music connected to the alchemical world of renaissance magic

* Gotisches Echo – German and Polish music from the region of Silesia, Pomerania, Poland and German lands around 1500