Sting plays City Hall, King George Square on Monday 1 December 2008.
The last time Sting was in town, it was to front The Police for a reunion gig at Suncorp Stadium. His next visit will be something more intimate. Heading our way in December, Sting will be joined on the tour by renowned lutenist, Edin Karamazov.
The pair will be promoting a new edition of Sting’s, Songs from the Labyrinth. Sting see’s the album as ‘a personal tribute’ to late 16th-century Elizabethan composer, John Dowland (1563-1626).
Songs from the Labyrinth was recorded in 2006 and debuted at the top of the classical charts in the US, UK, France, Canada & Germany. The album remained on Billboard's #1 classical charts for fifteen consecutive weeks and was the top selling classical album of both 2006 and 2007.
A DVD, The Journey and the Labyrinth, was filmed, appropriately, at Sting's 16th-century manor house in Wiltshire (Lake House) as well as in the ancient gardens of his home in Italy (Il Palagio), and, in part, at a live concert at St Luke's Church in London.
The new edition of the album features three bonus tracks, including Sting’s own ‘Fields of Gold’ and ‘Message in a Bottle’ [which he performs with Edin Karamazov on lute], as well as a special, live version of Robert Johnson’s ‘Have You Seen the Bright Lily Grow’.
Sting was introduced to the music of John Dowland in the early 1980s, and has said that Dowland’s music has been ‘gently haunting’ him for more than twenty years. The album honours Dowland by not only recreating his music, but also his words. Sting incorporates short recitations of a letter John Dowland wrote in 1595 to Queen Elizabeth’s Secretary of State, Sir Robert Cecil, into the album, pleading his allegiance to the English throne in the hope of an invitation into the Royal Court, providing further insight to Dowland’s life and times.
Edin Karamazov has been Sting’s partner in this project from its conception. A protégé of the legendary conductor Sergiu Celibidache, Karamazov began his musical career with the classical guitar, continuing his studies of the Baroque Lute at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.
Supporting Sting are ZBG, who take their name from the surnames of its three members: Allan Zavod, David Berlin and Slava Grigoryan. Also joining Sting and Karamazov on this tour is the British a cappella choir Stile Antico, who are featured in all the European performances of Songs from the Labyrinth to date, giving vocal accompaniment to some of the more raucous tavern songs and gentle lullabies that are found in Dowland’s wide-ranging music.
Sting plays City Hall, King George Square on Monday 1 December 2008.
Songs from the Labyrinth out now through Deutsche Grammophon.
