Folger Consort Presents An English Garden, Elizabethan Music and Poetry Celebrating Spring in the Final Concert Program of the Season

WASHINGTON, April 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Folger Shakespeare Library invites audiences to celebrate the beauty of spring with the award-winning Folger Consort, the early music ensemble-in-residence. An English Garden will be performed on stage in the Elizabethan-style Theatre May 8-10, 2026. 

Folger Consort's final concert program for the season enlivens springtime through Elizabethan music and poetry. During the Tudor period, the English developed an obsession for highly manicured gardens that enticed all the senses. There were at least 19 horticultural books and countless pastoral and floral poems published during Queen Elizabeth I's reign. This era also witnessed a spectacular flowering of English music.

"After presenting programs featuring Italian, Spanish, and French music this year we are delighted to return to English music from Shakespeare's time to complete our season," shared Co-Artistic Directors Robert Eisenstein and Christopher Kendall. "Our good friend and colleague Mary Springfels has curated a wonderful program for viols, lute, and soprano Emily Noël. We think it is a great way to welcome spring and the gardening season!"

Curated by Mary Springfels, An English Garden offers a sampling of 16th-century music, including lighthearted consort songs by William Byrd, courtly dances by the prolific composer Anthony Holborne, Hugh Ashton's Masque, Edward Johnson's  "Eliza Is the Fairest Queen" (a tribute to Elizabeth I), and a pair of sylvan songs—John Dowland's "Oh sweet woods" and Francis Cutting's "The woods so wild." 

Award-winning DC actor and Folger favorite Holly Twyford returns to Folger Consort to read selections from Philip Sidney's pastoral prose romance The Arcadia, Edmund Spenser's epic poem The Fairy Queen and pastoral poem The Shepherd's Calendar, as well as Shakespeare's comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream. 

Folger Consort's lineup of artists includes Eisenstein (bass viol), Lawrence Lipnik (tenor viol), Emily Noël (soprano), Mark Rimple (lute and tenor viol), and Springfels (treble viol).

Related programming for An English Garden includes pre-show conversations with guest artists led by Kendall and Eisenstein, from 7–7:30pm before the Friday, May 8, and Saturday, May 9, performances. This event is free for performance ticketholders. 

On Wednesday, May 6, at 6pm, Eisenstein leads a virtual seminar that offers a sneak peek at the music performed in the Folger Consort's An English Garden concerts. The event will be hosted on Zoom; $10, free for Folger Members and Subscribers: https://www.folger.edu/whats-on/early-music-seminar-an-english-garden/.

Tickets for each performance can be purchased online at www.folger.edu/consort or by contacting the Folger box office at (202) 544-7077. Tickets are $20-$50, with discounts available for Folger members and subscribers, seniors, students, educators, military and their families, and groups.
For more information about An English Garden, please visit: www.folger.edu/garden.   

Members of the press who would like to cover the performance may reserve tickets through Colleen Kennedy, Senior Communications Manager, via email at [email protected]. Selected images are available here: folger.edu/consort-presskit. 

Folger Consort wishes to thank Premier Season Sponsor Andrea "Andi" Kasarsky; Production Sponsors Dr. Charles C. Hanna and Dr. Gail Orgelfinger; Associate Sponsors David and Lenka Lundsten and Mary Augusta and George D. Thomas; and Artist Sponsors Karl K. and Carrol Benner Kindel.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS 

Robert Eisenstein  
Artistic Director (bass viol)
Robert Eisenstein has led over 200 productions and performances with Folger Consort over the past 40 years, including Measure + Dido at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Napa Valley Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice at Strathmore, The Fairy Queen, and Hildegard Von Bingen's Ordo Virtutum at the Washington National Cathedral. Recently retired as the Director of the Five College Early Music Program; Music Director for the Five College Opera Project production of Francesca Caccini's La Liberazione di Ruggiero; Mount Holyoke College faculty emeritus, where he taught music history and performed on the viola de gamba, violin, and medieval fiddle. He is an active participant in Five College Medieval Studies. Recipient of Early Music America's Thomas Binkley Award for outstanding achievement in performance and scholarship by the director of a college early music ensemble. 

Christopher Kendall
Artistic Director
Christopher Kendall is the founder of the Folger Consort. He is Dean Emeritus of the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance in Ann Arbor. In Washington, in addition to his work with Folger Consort, since 1975 he has been Artistic Director and conductor of the 21st Century Consort, the new music ensemble-in-residence at the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Mr. Kendall served as Director of the University of Maryland School of Music from 1996 to 2005. Associate Conductor of the Seattle Symphony from 1987 to 1992 and Director of the Music Division and Tanglewood Institute of the Boston University School for the Arts from 1993 to 1996, Mr. Kendall has guest conducted many orchestras and ensembles in repertoire from the 18th to the 21st centuries. His recordings can be heard on the Bard, Delos, Nonesuch, Centaur, ASV, Arabesque, Innova, Bridge, and Smithsonian Collection labels. 

GUEST ARTISTS

Lawrence Lipnik (tenor viol)
Lawrence Lipnik performs with many acclaimed early music ensembles and is a founding member of the viol consort Parthenia and vocal ensemble Lionheart.  He has served as gambist and recorder player for staged opera productions including Monteverdi's Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts and Telemann's Orpheus with the New York City Opera, and has prepared an authoritative edition of Francesco Cavalli's La Calisto, commissioned by the Juilliard School.  Recent performances include appearances with the Venice Baroque Orchestra and early opera residencies at Carnegie Mellon University. He is a contributor to The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Contemporary Dramatists.

Emily Noël (soprano)
Emily Noël performs a wide variety of repertory expanding from the Medieval to the contemporary. Favorite Folger performances include: Gloria!, Davenant's Macbeth, The Second Shepherds' Play, An English Garden, Play of Love, Measure + Dido, The Merchant of Venice, Christmas in New Spain, and Map of the World. She has also appeared as a soloist with the Washington Bach Consort, Washington National Cathedral, LyricFest, Ente Concerti Città di Iglesias, Amsterdam Grachtenfestival, American Opera Theater, Mountainside Baroque, Seven Times Salt, Early Interval, and Santa Fe Desert Chorale. A passionate educator, Emily has served on the faculties of Franklin & Marshall College, Notre Dame of Maryland University, and The Community College of Rhode Island. She currently teaches voice at Denison University and directs the Cardinal Singers at Otterbein University.

Mark Rimple (lute and tenor viol)
Hailed "among the first rank of US Lutenists" (Lute Society of America), Mark Rimple has appeared with Folger Consort, Trefoil, the Newberry Consort, Severall Friends, Piffaro, the King's Noyse, Mélomanie, Tempesta di Mare, Blue Heron/Les Delices, Ex Umbris, Hesperus, and Seven Times Salt. He is a composer, with recent performances by Network for New Music and counter)induction. His recording January (New Focus) includes works for countertenor, lute, harpsichord, and viol. He has authored several articles on the history of music theory and notation. Mark is Professor of Music Theory, History and Composition at the Wells School of Music at West Chester University and currently serves as the President of the Lute Society of America.

Mary Springfels (treble viol)
Mary Springfels is a veteran of the American early music movement. She is a native of Los Angeles, but moved to New York at the age of 21 to join the New York Pro Musica as their viola da gambist. From that time on, Mary has been an active participant in prominent early music ensembles, including Folger Consort, the Waverly Concert, Concert Royal, the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Ars Lyrica Houston, and the Texas Early Music Project (Austin).  Mary directed the Newberry Consort in Chicago for 20 years, during which time the group made a number of critically acclaimed recordings.  She has also been a continuo player for the Chicago Opera Theater, Central City Opera, and the New York City Opera. Currently, she is a co-director of Severall Friends, an early music ensemble based in Santa Fe. Mary teaches all over the country.

Holly Twyford (narrator)
Folger Theatre: Dark Lady: A Musical Theater Work (Reading Room Festival 2026), All's Well That Ends Well, As You Like It, The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Helen Hayes Award), Hamlet, Othello, Romeo and Juliet (Helen Hayes Award), Arcadia, Melissa Arctic, The Second Shepherd's Play, Orestes: A Tragic Romp, Mary Stuart, A Midsummer Night's Dream, King John; Over eighty productions at DC Area theater including: Shakespeare Theatre Company, Studio Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Round House Theatre, and others. Awards & Affiliations: 5 Helen Hayes Awards, Emery Battis Award for Acting Excellence, Lunt-Fontanne Fellow, Studio Theatre Cabinet Member, Ford's Associate Artist.

About Folger Shakespeare Library
The Folger Shakespeare Library makes Shakespeare's stories and the world in which he lived accessible. Anchored by the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the Folger is a cultural organization where curiosity and creativity are embraced, and conversation is always encouraged. Visitors to the Folger can choose in what way they want to experience the arts and humanities, from interactive exhibitions to captivating performances, and from path-breaking research to transformative educational programming. The Folger welcomes everyone to connect in their own way—from communities throughout Washington, DC, to communities across the globe. Learn more at www.folger.edu.  

About Folger Consort
For 50 seasons as the early music ensemble-in-residence at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Folger Consort has delighted audiences with a stunning repertoire of early music spanning roughly 800 years and into the present day. With world-class guest artists, from virtuoso soloists to large choirs and period orchestras, Folger Consort has performed masterpieces of the most renowned composers and hidden treasures from those who might otherwise be lost to history. Performing in the intimate setting of the Folger's Elizabethan-styled Theatre, as well as such grand spaces as Washington National Cathedral, Strathmore Hall, and the Kennedy Center, Folger Consort has also toured nationally and internationally to Shakespeare's Globe and other prestigious venues.

Among other awards and critical acclaim for its performances and recordings, Folger Consort has received Best Classical Chamber Ensemble from the Washington Area Music Awards multiple times. For more on Folger Consort, please visit www.folger.edu/folger-consort.

Folger Consort recordings are available for purchase and digital download at iTunes and available for streaming on Spotify.

SOURCE Folger Shakespeare Library