The John Doland Experience

I can come to your event with my lute, and my bard costume. If you want me to do a presentation or lecture on the lute and adjacent topics, I can bring my laptop to plug into your AV setup. If you have a microphone and a PA, that's great. Disclaimer: the lute can be a quiet instrument. Setting it up with a piezoelectric pickup and hidden speaker is still a work in progress.

The John Doland Experience is the alter ego of multi-instrumentalist, writer, and comedian Levon Ritter. Based on the historical lutenist John Dowland (whose name was pronounced more like dough-land based on how it appears in the poetry of the time), the JDE seeks to bring lute music to the masses. As a Renaissance man, the JDE can tailor his act to fit the atmosphere of your faire or festival. If you are looking for a historically-informed performer who can give dazzling lectures on the history of the lute and music of the Renaissance, the JDE has a degree in the subject and can perform concerts of authentic, period-appropriate music. If you are looking for whimsical and comedic characters to roam your faire or event and make it come alive, the JDE is also a parody artist a la Weird Al who can take modern songs people may be familiar with and alter them with yon words and such that are most befitting of ye olde time. But nothing by the litigious rodent under any circumstances, of course. The JDE is open to bookings for 2027, so reach out now!

No strict requirements here; the JDE can be flexible, as is often demanded of ren faire artists. For bigger crowds on a stage, the JDE needs a mic and PA.