Orpheus’ Lute. Improvisation and Wonder in Humanist Italy features Bor Zuijan on Lutes & Vocals and Mónica Pustilnik on Viola da Mano.

The lute became the instrument of choice at European courts around 1500, the time of their greatest cultural and spiritual importance. The lute was considered by the Humanists to represent Orpheus’s lyre, as it embodied the metaphysical ideal of the power of music and was also closely linked to improvisation.

Here we revive this tradition for the first time on record: this programme is almost entirely improvised and presents the Renaissance lute with all its surprising colours and sonorities as a living instrument. Recorded at San Martino in Mensola church (Villa I Tatti, Florence), 26th February – 1st March 2024.

Bor Zuljan – Lutes & Vocals
Mónica Pustilnik, Viola da Mano