We often think of John Dowland as the ultimate Elizabethan songwriter and lutenist, but the truth is he couldn’t get a gig in the Virgin Queen’s court. Instead he had to ply his art overseas where he was celebrated as the great composer and influencer he was.

It’s this interesting juxtaposition of English and continental European Renaissance genres which formed the backbone of Dame Emma Kirkby’s recital with the Swedish lutenist Jakob Lindberg in the final chamber music concert of the Utzon Series for the season.

It may have been a balmy sunny afternoon on the harbour outside the wall-to-wall window of the intimate room but inside it was positively Arctic, thanks to the fierce airconditioning which occasionally troubled the 68-year-old doyenne of early music. And Lindberg chose to drop one of his solos, explaining that his fingers were slightly swollen from the long flight and normally they would have an interval for this programme.

But these were minor hitches in what was a glorious trip through songs and instrumentals from the 16th and 17th centuries, covering England, France, Italy and Spain and the courts of kings, queens and the Medicis of Rome.

The programme opened with four songs by John Danyel who published...