Sting received a lute two years ago as a gift from guitarist Dominic Miller, he said. "I sort of became fascinated with it and immersed myself in the lute and lute music. It reminded me of an interest I've had for a long time—for almost 25 years—in the works of John Dowland."

Dowland, he added, "was really the first singer/songwriter that we know of and so a lot of us owe our living to this man."

A bassist, guitarist, and singer, Sting first came to prominence in the late 1970s as a member of the punk rock-reggae group The Police. His long solo career has included experiments with jazz.