The past six years has included three concerts of Renaissance songs for two voices and lute: Tudor Tales, Cornucopia and The Sweets of Love that have been performed in NYC and on tour. With current mezzo-soprano, Anna Willson, we create a pleasing mix of songs that display profound thoughtful poetry as well as jolly rollicking […]

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2014-18 Concert Performances Both touching and humorous, Passing By…describes the journeys of a modern day troubadour. This entertainment for the parlor features Renaissance lute songs, songs from Shakespeare’s plays, traditional folk ballads and classics from the 1960s, plus words from Shakespeare and contemporary poets. Garald Farnham has entertained children and adults on five continents with […]

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                    The Sweets of Love – songs for two voices and Renaissance lute – Good Pennyworths share a variety of solos and duets that highlight the many facets of love.  The music was composed by prominent artists at the time Shakespeare was writing his plays, often […]

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                  Love is but a Jest: Songs for Lovers and Fools – Although the lute was primarily an instrument that thrived during the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods, with imagination our quartet has realized accompaniments for music from later periods.  Using a theme based on minstrelsy and […]

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                  A Pennyworth of Christmas – A Yuletide classic that gets better each year.  In this concert we broaden our usual Renaissance and Elizabethan repertoire to explore a quilt of carols and winter holiday songs.  We make sure to include some ancient and lessor known carols with […]

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    Songs From Shakespeare: True Love Never Did Run Smooth is a concert of Shakespearean proportions! A staged, fully-scripted concert theater piece, Songs from Shakespeare explores universal truths: love’s messes, life’s heartbreaks and the laughter that sees us through. Working from a creative concept framed by Garald Farnham and Alane Marco (ensemble member 2007-2011) and […]

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                  Love! Lust! Longing… Loss – an Elizabethan Romp – In the late 1500s and early 1600s, the lute songs, ballads, theatre songs and pub songs in this program were the “pop music” of their day, a musical language known to all classes of society, from courtiers […]

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A Lover and His Lass recording produced in 1989 by Merry Minstrels (now Good Pennyworths)When I created my not-for-profit organization in 1986 to present concerts of Renaissance lute songs, I never realized how many other groups would use the name. That is why in 2008 the name was legally changed to Good Pennyworths. This was […]

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Christopher spoke with Columbus, Ohio music columnist Jim Fischer about our new concert, “Love is but a Jest,” which we’re performing this Friday for Early Music in Columbus. Check out Christopher’s interview here.

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Tags: Christopher Preston Thompson, Early Music, Early Music in Columbus, Garald Farnham, Good Pennyworths, Good Pennyworths Tour, Lute Songs, Vocal Quartet

Lutenist Garald Farnham was interviewed by music critic Robert Plylar for The Observer newspapers in advance of our Chautauqua concert and master class to be given this month. Click here to read Observer Today article

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Tags: Chautauqua Institution, Early Music, Garald Farnham, Good Pennyworths Tour, Lute and Voice Master Class, Upcoming Concert, Vocal Quartet