Sunday 18 May, 6:00
Concert: BYRD’s GREAT SERVICE
The Grosvenor Chapel, Mayfair
with commentary by John Milsom

Throughout his long association with the Chapel Royal, William Byrd lived dangerously. The man whose now celebrated settings of the Latin Mass sustained the forbidden worship of the recusant Catholic underground also had the versatility and audacity to produce one of the brightest jewels in the crown of the new Anglican liturgy – the so-called “Great Service”.

The Renaissance Singers offer a rare opportunity to hear this kaleidoscopic suite of psalms and canticles for the major services of the Anglican Prayerbook in its entirety, ranging from the intricacy of its madrigal-like solo passages to the grandeur of music in up to ten voice parts. The programme will also include three massive anthems by Thomas Tomkins, a Chapel Royal composer of the following generation. These are some of the last and greatest of their genre before English music was engulfed by what Tomkins himself called the “sad and distracted times” of the English Civil War and Commonwealth.

Byrd
The Great Service

Tomkins
O sing unto the Lord
O God, the proud are risen against me
O praise the Lord, all ye heathen

Tickets: £10 (£8 concessions) Bookings 07956 092120, or e-mail tickets@renaissancesingers.com or book online at www.renaissancesingers.com

Saturday 5 July:
Joint concert in London with the Lelikoor.

This concert marks the second part of an exciting exchange between the Renaissance Singers and JanJoost’s Dutch choir, the Lelikoor, this summer. Programme to include Frank Martin’s Mass for Double Choir.

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Membership of The Friends of the Renaissance Singers scheme costs £45 (£38 concessions) per year and entitles the member to free entry to all Renaissance Singers’ self-promoted concerts plus a half-price ticket for any one person accompanying. Other benefits include 50% off the entry price to open workshops, a free copy of the new Renaissance Singers CD, and free attendance at the Friends' annual event, which this year includes the CD launch party.