At the end of 16th century London rose to become the most important North Sea port and, with the founding of the British East India Company in 1600, the metropolis on the Thames attained overseas importance. This London is also the marvellous world of Fancies, unique musical genres such as the Brownings and In nomines and the home of consort music – in such great demand that composers produced it incessantly for almost 120 years.

The musicians of Les Escapades roam through the genres in their variegated programme, presenting the famous masters of the English virginals – William Byrd, John Bull and Orlando Gibbons – as consort composers of rich imagination. Alfonso Ferrabosco, Richard Mico and John Jenkins are presented as fantasy specialists, completed by Tobias Hume and Christopher Simpson, who bring the soloistic possibilities of the viola da gamba into focus in a humorous and virtuosic manner.