Ticketed

Essential Information

Type Events and festivals
Location
Date and Times Friday 27 September 2024 | 7pm-8.45pm
Prices Adult: £30, Under 16s: £15 | Members / Patrons: £27, Under 16s Members: £13.50

Discount for Members. Not a member? Join now

Majesty and magnificence combine in this evening of Renaissance and Baroque music.  

Inspired by the 17th century setting of the Queen’s House – commissioned by King James I and VI's queen, Anne of Denmark and finished for Queen Henrietta Maria – the concert brings together the talents of soprano Nardus Williams and lutenist Elizabeth Kenny.  

Renowned for their lyricism and versatility, the performers will play works by composers including Nicholas Lanier, Pierre Guédron and Robert Johnson. 

Expect the setting of the Great Hall to lift these musical masterpieces to new heights. 

Tickets include a complimentary glass of Prosecco or soft drink (please specify when booking your ticket). Please note a £3 booking fee applies to all ticket orders.

Event information

Doors open: 6pm 

Introduction to the Queen's House and the music by Royal Museums Greenwich curator and musicians: 7pm

Concert starts: 7.20pm 

Interval: 7.55pm 

Concert resumes: 8.10pm 

Concert ends: 8.45pm 

Performers

Image
Headshot of soprano Nardus Williams

Nardus Williams, soprano

Winner of the Rising Talent award at the 2022 International Opera Awards, Nardus Williams has established herself as one of the most exciting and versatile young British singers of her generation. 

Highlights of the 2023/24 season include a return to Opéra de Rouen Normandie for concert performances of Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and a reprise of the role of Belinda in Errollyn Wallen Dido’s Ghost with Philharmonia Baroque. 

The season also sees her make her Berlin Philharmonie debut with the Academy of Ancient Music, perform the world premiere of George Lewis’ The Comet / Poppea, and return to the London Handel Festival singing the title role in Handel's Esther

She will also perform Bach's St Matthew Passion with The Bach Choir, Handel's Brockes Passion with The English Concert, Fauré's Requiem with Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and release her debut album of Handel's Italian Cantatas for Linn Records, with the Dunedin Consort.

Recent highlights include performing the role of Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress for the Glyndebourne Tour, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte for English National Opera, Countess in Le nozze di Figaro for Opera Holland Park, Ciboulette In the Market for Love for the Glyndebourne Tour, and performing in the world premiere of Dido's Ghost - a co-commission with the Dunedin Consort, Mahogany Opera & The Barbican.

On the concert and recital platform, recent recital highlights include Oxford Lieder, Leeds Lieder, Wigmore Hall, St. John’s Smith Square, making her BBC Proms debut with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and returning with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and La Nuova Musica, Handel’s Messiah at King’s Place and performing with English National Opera.

Image: Bertie Watson

Image
Image of musician Elizabeth Kenny holding a lute

Elizabeth Kenny, lute

Elizabeth Kenny is one of Europe’s leading lute players. Her playing has been described as “incandescent” (Music and Vision), “radical” (The Independent on Sunday) and “indecently beautiful” (Toronto Post). 

She has devised several critically acclaimed recordings of solo music from the ML Lute Book, and, with long standing vocal partners, songs by Lawes, Purcell and Dowland. Her most recent solo recording, Ars Longa (Linn Records) was nominated for the 2020 BBC Music Magazine Awards in the Instrumental category.

She has an extensive discography of collaborations with chamber ensembles across Europe and the USA.  In 2017 Shakespeare Songs with Ian Bostridge and co-collaborators won the Grammy best solo vocal recital, and the same year viol consort Phantasm and Kenny won the Gramophone Early Music award for their recording of Dowland’s Lachrime. 

Kenny founded Theatre of the Ayre in 2007. Their various touring projects have sealed a reputation for an innovative and improvisatory approach to seventeenth-century music.  Notable recording projects include John Blow’s Venus and Adonis (Wigmore Live, 2011), The Masque of Moments (Linn, 2017) and 17th Century Playlist, with tenor Ed Lyon (Delphian).  

In thirty years of touring Kenny has played with many of the world’s best period instrument groups, including extended spells with Les Arts Florissants and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.  She has given premiere performances of solo and chamber pieces by James MacMillan, Benjamin Oliver, Heiner Goebbels, Rachel Stott and Nico Muhly.   

Elizabeth Kenny has been professor of Lute at the Royal Academy of Music since 1999, and Dean of Students since 2020. She was Professor of Musical Performance at the University of Southampton, and Director of Performance and Performance Studies at the University of Oxford between 2012 and 2020.  

Image: Bertie Watson

What’s On

Mistress Babbington character actor at the Queen's House
Family fun

Character Actors at the Queen's House

Meet historical characters connected to the Queen's House and take part in exciting performances
Sundays | 12pm, 1pm, 2pm and 3pm
Free
Queen's House
Soprano Lizzie Holmes, DEBUT
Events and festivals | Museum Lates

DEBUT at the Queen's House

A night of enchanting classical music as part of DEBUT's acclaimed 'Secret Concerts' series
Thursday 19 June and Thursday 4 September 2025 | Performances at 6.45pm and 8.15pm
Adult: £30, Child: £25 (plus £3 booking fee) | Adult Member: £27, Child Member: £22
Queen's House
A woman looks at the painting of Elizabeth I known as the 'Armada Portrait', hanging in the Queen's House
Workshops | Art and culture

Artist Masterclass: Portraits Drawing Workshop

Want to surprise you dad this Father's Day? Develop your portrait skills together in this special guided workshop, led by artists Federico Baeza-Autillo and Sarah E Shaw
Select Fridays and Sundays during summer 2025 | Sales now open for Sunday 8 June | 10.15am-12pm
Adult: £20 (plus £3 booking fee per booking), Adult Member: £15.00
Queen's House
Queen's House Loggia
Experiences | Art and culture

Queen's House Classic Treasures Tour with drinks on the balcony

Head to Greenwich for a new refreshing and effervescent tour experience
Select Sundays during summer 2025 | Sales now open for 1 and 8 June | Tour at 3.30pm
Adult: £20 (plus £3 booking fee per booking); Adult Members: £15
Queen's House
The Sailor [Maurice Alan Easton] - Cropped
Talks and tours | Art and culture

The Queen's House Curator Tour: The Art of Naval Portraiture

Join Dr Katherine Gazzard, Curator of Art at Royal Museums Greenwich, for a unique tour of the Queen’s House, exploring the complex and often surprising history of naval portraiture
5 and 19 June 2025 | Tours start at 3.30pm
Adult: £5; Adult (includes a signed copy of the book): £20 | Adult Member: Free; Adult Member (includes a signed copy of the book): £18
Queen's House
A woman points out something of interest in a painting to a family group
Family fun

May half term at the Queen's House

Find free workshops, character encounters and creative activities for all ages inside Greenwich's historic villa
25 May - 1 June 2025 | See page for timings
Free
Queen's House
Trinity Laban Concert in the Queen's House Great Hall
Events and festivals | Art and culture

Lunchtime Concerts at the Queen's House

Enjoy musical performances in the Queen's House given by students from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance 
Select Wednesdays (see page for details) | 1pm-2pm
Free, drop in
Queen's House
An orchestra performs in the Great Hall of the Queen's House to a packed audience
Events and festivals | Art and culture

Trinity Laban Contemporary Music Group: The Daryl Runswick Competition Final

An evening championing new works by up-and-coming composers
Wednesday 11 June 2025 | 7.30pm
Adult: £15, Adult Members: £12, Child: £7.50, Child Members: £6
Queen's House
A woman gazes at portraits of historic figures. Three paintings are displayed in a gallery in front of her
Workshops | Member events

Members' Artist Masterclass: Portraits Drawing Workshop

Develop your portrait skills in this special guided workshop, led by artists Federico Baeza-Autillo and Sarah E Shaw
Friday 13 June 2025 | 10.15am-12.15pm
Free | Members only
Queen's House
An image showing a market woman holding and selling a pineapple. She is next to a basket full of other fruits.
Talks and tours | Salons in the Queen's House

Salons in the Queen's House: The Seeds of Survival

In this free lunchtime talk historian Akosua Paries-Osei will explore the empire-disrupting botanical knowledge of enslaved women
Wednesday 25 June 2025 | 1pm-1.30pm
Free
Queen's House
A branch of the bread fruit tree with fruit
Talks and tours | Salons in the Queen's House

Salons in the Queen's House: Breadfruit and the Creolising of Caribbean Foodways

In this free lunchtime talk historian Jade Lindo will explore the historical and cultural significance of breadfruit in the Caribbean
Wednesday 16 July 2025 | 1pm-1.30pm
Free
Queen's House