The 13th Season of the Second Sunday Basilica Recital Series opens with lutenist, FRANKIN LEI, in the OLD MISSION CHAPEL at 4 p.m., September 14th.
The recital is Free, A suggested donation of $15 goes to support the Basilica Music Ministries.
Born in Hong Kong, Franklin studied Renaissance and Baroque lutes at Musikhochschule Rheinland in Cologne, and at Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. He has recorded CDs for the Naxos, Marco Polo, and Stradivarius labels.
Franklin gave his first lute performance in 1975 at Old First Church in San Francisco. He has since performed at many venues whose history intertwines with his music, such as Peter Paul Rubens's atelier in Antwerp, St. Bartholomäus in Dornheim, Germany where J.S. Bach married, Salone dei Cinquecento in Florence, and St. Joseph Seminary Church in Macau, which is the last Jesuit church in China.
Franklin is deeply honored to come full circle in his career, to perform "The vihuela and the Tensho Embassy" at Old Mission Dolores on September 14, 2025. The Tensho Embassy was four boys from Nagasaki who represented the 200 Jesuit missions of Japan to visit two popes in Rome and Phillip II in Madrid during 1584-1586. They were accomplished on the vihuela, which is the Iberian equivalent of the lute. Their well documented concerts show the vihuela as the most widely played musical instrument in the world, just as its descendent the guitar is today.