The Lute Master: The Genius of Dowland

About Paul O’Dette
“…should I come to meet Saint Peter at the pearly gates, I hope he will say, ‘Welcome, good and faithful servant! By the way, be sure to hear Paul O’Dette—he’s leading the angel band.’” Early Music America, Spring 2011

Paul O’Dette has been described him as “the clearest case of genius ever to touch his instrument.” (Toronto Globe and Mail) One of the most influential figures in his field, O’Dette has helped define the technical and stylistic standards to which twenty-first-century performers of early music aspire. In doing so, he helped infuse the performance practice movement with a perfect combination of historical awareness, idiomatic accuracy, and ambitious self-expression. His performances at the major international festivals in Boston, New York, Vienna, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Prague, Milan, Florence, Geneva, Zürich, Madrid, Barcelona, Tokyo, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Melbourne, Adelaide, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Berkeley, Edinburgh, Montpellier, Utrecht, Bruges, Antwerp, Bremen, Dresden, Innsbruck, Tenerife, Copenhagen, Oslo, Cordoba, etc. have often been singled out as the highlight of those events.

Paul O’Dette has made more than 155 recordings, winning three Grammys, receiving nine Grammy nominations, 7 Diapason D’Or de L’année, 13 Diapason d’Or, 2 Echo Klassik Awards, a Jahrespreis der Deutschenschallplattenkritik, 7 Grammophone nominations, and numerous other international record awards. “The Complete Lute Music of John Dowland” (a 5-CD set for harmonia mundi usa), was awarded the prestigious Diapason D’or de l’année and selected as the “Best Solo Lute Recording of Dowland” by BBC Radio 3. “The Bachelar’s Delight: Lute Music of Daniel Bacheler” was nominated for a Grammy as “Best Solo Instrumental Recording of 2006.”

Mr. O’Dette is also active conducting Baroque operas. His recording of Charpentier’s La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers with Stephen Stubbs and the Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Ensemble won a Grammy for “Best Opera Recording of 2014,” as well as an Echo Klassik Award in the same category. They won another Grammy in 2026 for their recording of Telemann’s dramatic cantata Ino. Since 1997 O’Dette has directed performances of operas by Monteverdi, Handel, Lully, Pergolesi, Telemann and others at the Boston Early Music Festival, Drottningholm, Magdeburg Telemann Festival, Tanglewood, Caramoor and other prestigious festivals. Recordings of seven of these operas have been nominated for Grammy awards. Steffani’s Niobe, was awarded a Diapason D’or de l’année, an Echo Klassik Award and the prestigious Jahrespreis der Deutschenschallplattenkritik. Paul O’Dette has guest conducted numerous Baroque orchestras and chamber ensembles on both sides of the Atlantic.

In addition to his activities as a performer, Paul O’Dette is an avid researcher, having worked extensively on the performance and sources of seventeenth-century Italian and English solo song, continuo practices and lute music. He has published numerous articles on issues of historical performance practice and co-authored the Dowland entry in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

Paul O’Dette is Professor of Lute and Director of Early Music at the Eastman School of Music, where he has been awarded the Eisenhart Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has been Artistic Co-Director of the Boston Early Music Festival since 1993.Paul O’Dette è professore di liuto e direttore di musica antica alla Eastman School of Music, dove ha ricevuto il premio Eisenhart per l’eccellenza nell’insegnamento. Dal 1993 è direttore artistico del Boston Early Music Festival.