BAROQUE AND BEYOND: Daniel Swenberg, artistic director of the Dryden Ensemble, performs on lute at its November 15 concert at Unitarian Universalist Congregation.

The Dryden Ensemble returns with its artistic director, Daniel Swenberg, in a program entitled “Daydreams (and Dictators)” on Saturday, November 15 at 4 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 50 Cherry Hill Road. Admission is free, though donations will be accepted.

“Daydreams (and Dictators)” explores the flourishing musical scenes at Versailles (Louis XIV), Dresden (August the Strong), and Berlin (Fredrick the Great) in the 17th and 18th centuries. In the renaissance and baroque eras, rulers were highly educated and they cultivated the arts, in particular, by hiring the greatest performers, composers, poets, and painters. Art was used as an expression of power.

The musicians perform chamber versions of famous scenes from Lully’s operas’ “Sommeil — sleep/dream” scenes from arrangements of famous arias and symphonies for trio sonatas, harpsichord, and lute solos. Marais’s Tombeau for Lully, C. P. E. Bach’s sonata for solo flute, and Sylvius Leopold Weiss’s sonata “Le fameux corsaire” (“The Famous Pirate”) complete the program.

The performers include soprano Laura Heimes, Daniel Swenberg on lute and theorbo, Vita Wallace on Baroque violin, Lisa Terry on bass viol, and Caitlyn Koester, harpsichord.

The season will continue on Saturday, January 31 at 4 p.m. with “Lachrimæ: In Praise of Tears,” a celebration of John Dowland and Franz Schubert. On Saturday, February 28 at 4 p.m. the ensemble presents “La Conversation,” with trios for lute, lautenwerk (lute-harpsichord), and violin. All concerts will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation. Visit drydenensemble.org for more information.