Welcome to our Festival blog

We are a small congregation commemorating the 400th anniversary of the death of the village's Elizabethan composer, William Byrd (c.1540 - 1623).

We are planning to erect a permanent memorial to Byrd to mark the quatercentenary since his death, and have begun a fundraising appeal. Our events this year have included a talk on The Life and Times of William Byrd (30 June), including book release; a Commemorative Service of BCP Evensong (2 July); and, welcomed The Stondon Singers who gave a sell-out William Byrd Anniversary Concert on the actual day (4 July). Stondon Massey has also featured on BBC Radio 3's 'Composer of the Week' programme (3-7 July).

This website contains everything you need to know about William Byrd's life and music as well as his links with Stondon Massey. /

Wednesday, 14 March 2012

BBC Music Magazine feature Cardinall's Musick


Renaissance sacred choral music is the theme of the BBC Music Magazine cover disc for April 2012 (published today).  Cardinall’s Musick, under the direction of Andrew Carwood, sing works by Byrd and Tallis recorded at the Kilkenny Arts Festival (August 2010) and St John’s College, Cambridge (June 2011).  Highlight works by Byrd are ‘Infelix ego’ and ‘Iustorum animae’ (perhaps misspelt on other discs with a letter ‘J’ for ‘Justorum’ – I learned recently that the letter ‘J’ does not exist in the23-letter Latin alphabet).

The disc also mentions the group’s celebration of Byrd’s Latin music throughout 2012 in a series of concerts “that takes in a series of venues and historical locations linked to the great English composer”.  This includes Stondon Massey Church in Essex on Sunday 2 September.  There is an advertisement on page 113 listing the entire ‘Byrd Tour 2012’ giving website connections for each place.

If you are interested in tickets for St Peter and St Paul Church – there are only 70 available per performance – or would like further information, please e mail. 

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