Crowds Flock to William Byrd 400th Anniversary Concert

 The Stondon Singers held a special concert at St Peter and St Paul Church, Stondon Massey last night (Tuesday 4 July) to mark the 400th anniversary of the death of William Byrd (c1540-1623) in the parish where he lived. The calendar seemed coincidentally arranged because the singers, formed in 1968 to sing the great composer's work, always have the first Tuesday in July for the Anniversary Concert.

Hilary Punnett is now their conductor having now led for a season, and this was her first at Stondon Massey.

The programme, entitled 'Patronage and Persecution' considered the theme of royal patronage throughout the ages as well as pieces which reflected the persecution Byrd faced as a recusant Catholic.

The pieces performed were:

Byrd: Vigilate

Thomas Tallis (1505-1585): Miserere nostri

Judith Weir (b. 1954): Love bade me welcome

Andrew Balfour (b. 1967): Ambe

Byrd: In winter cold (prima pars), and Whereat an ant (secunda pars)

Byrd: Tristitia et anxietas

Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625): O clap your hands together

interval

Byrd: Sing Joyfully

J.F. Woolley: Rest

Byrd: Miserere mei

Andrew Balfour: Vision Chant

Robert Carver (1485-1570): Missa dum sacrum mysterium - Sanctus

Robert Parsons (1535-1572): Ave Maria

Byrd: Haec dies

Stondon Singers William Byrd 400th Anniversary Concert

 The Concert is sold out. Returns only.

A Service of Evensong celebrating William Byrd on the 400th anniversary of his death.

 

A Service of Evensong celebrating

William Byrd

on the 400^th anniversary of his death

Sunday 2^nd July 2023

St. Peter St. Paul

Stondon Massey 3pm

 

Please stand, as you are able, at the entrance of the ministers.

All people that on earth do dwell,

William Kethe (d. 1594)

 DEARLY beloved brethren, the Scripture moveth us in sundry places to acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness; and that we should not dissemble nor cloke them before the face of Almighty God our heavenly Father; but confess them with an humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart; to the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same …Wherefore I pray and beseech you, as many as are here present, to accompany me with a pure heart and humble voice unto the throne of the heavenly grace, saying after me:

 A general Confession to be said of the whole Congregation after the Minister, all sitting or kneeling.

 ALMIGHTY and most merciful Father, We have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep, We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts, We have offended against thy holy laws, We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, And we have done those things which we ought not to have done  … Amen.

 The Absolution or Remission of sins to be pronounced by the Priest

 ALMIGHTY God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who desireth not the death of a sinner … that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure, and holy; so that at the last we may come to his eternal joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Then the Minister lead the people in the Lord’s prayer

 OUR Father, which art in heaven …

Priest.     O Lord, open thou our lips.

Answer. And our mouth shall shew forth thy praise.

 

Priest.     O God, make speed to save us.

Answer O Lord, make haste to help us.

 Here, all standing up, the Priest shall say,

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;

Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

 Priest.     Praise ye the Lord.

Answer. The Lord's Name be praised.

 

PSALM 8

 

The Stondon Singers - William Byrd: Kyrie. Mass for 4 voices.

 

The first reading                                                    

Isaiah 64:1-12

 

Reader    This is the Word of the Lord.

All         Thanks be to God.

 

The Second reading

Matthew 6: 25-34

 

Reader    This is the Word of the Lord.

All         Thanks be to God.

 

Stondon Singers - William Byrd: Agnus Dei: Mass for 4 voices

 

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth …

 

 

Minister.  The Lord be with you.
Answer   And with thy spirit.

Then the Priest standing up shall say,

Priest.      O Lord, shew thy mercy upon us.
Answer.  And grant us thy salvation

Priest.      O Lord, save the King.
Answer    And mercifully hear us when we call upon  thee.

Priest.      Endue thy Ministers with righteousness.
Answer.  And make thy chosen people joyful.

Priest.      O Lord, save thy people.
Answer   .And bless thine inheritance.

Priest.      Give peace in our time, O Lord.
Answer.  Because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only thou, O God.

Priest.      O God, make clean our hearts within us.
Answer.    And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

Then shall follow three Collects: The first of the day: The second for Peace: The third for Aid against all Perils, as hereafter followeth: which two last Collects shall be daily said at Evening Prayer without alteration.

The Second Collect at Evening Prayer

The Third Collect, for Aid against all Perils

A Prayer for the King's Majesty.

A Prayer for the Royal Family.

A Prayer for the Clergy and People.

A Prayer of Saint Chrysostom.

 

Care for thy soul as thing of greatest price,

      Made to the end to taste of power divine,

Devoid of guilt, abhorring sin and vice,

      Apt by God’s grace to virtue to incline.

Care for it so as by thy retchless train

It be not brought to taste eternal pain.

 

Care for thy corse, but chiefly for soul’s sake;

      Cut off excess, sustaining food is best;

To vanquish pride but comely clothing take;

      Seek after skill, deep ignorance detest.

Care so, I say, the flesh to feed and clothe

That thou harm not thy soul and body both.

 

Care for the world to do thy body right;

      Rack not thy wit to win thy wicked ways;

Seek not to oppress the weak by wrongful might;

      To pay thy due do banish all delays.

Care to dispend according to thy store,

And in like sort be mindful of the poor.

 

Care for thy soul, as for thy chiefest stay;

      Care for thy body for thy soul’s avail;

Care for the world for body’s help alway;

      Care yet but so as virtue may prevail.

Care in such sort that thou be sure of this:

Care keep thee not from heaven and heavenly bliss.

William Byrd

 

The Stondon Singers - William Byrd: Ave Verum Corpus

 

2 Corinthians 13.
THE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen.

 

 For all the saints who from their labours rest …

William Walsham Howe 1823-1897

 

Andrew Smith – A “vote of thanks”

 

The Service will be followed by resfreshments.

Stondon Singers: William Byrd 400th Anniversary Concert: Tuesday 4 July 2023

The Stondon Singers are promoting their special concert at St Peter & St Paul Church, Stondon Massey.

Here are further details about July's William Byrd 400th Anniversary Concert. The programme comprises works on the theme of Patronage and Persecution, both of which Byrd experienced in his lifetime. Pieces include his uplifting 'Haec Dies' and 'Sing Joyfully', in sharp contrast with 'Miserere Mei' and 'Tristitia et Anxietas'. The programme also includes works by Gibbons, Parsons, Tallis and Weir, among others.

8 oth

Stondon Singers in Country Life

 The Stondon Singers William Byrd 4ooth Anniversary Concert on Tuesday 4 July 2023 at St Peter & St Paul's Church Stondon Massey is mentioned in a article on the great composer in Country Life (1 March 2023).

William Byrd Festival 2023 at Stondon Massey Church

 

'Patronage and Persecution'. Stondon Singers announce special William Byrd Anniversary Concert

The Stondon Singers, our local choir, will be holding their annual William Byrd Anniversary Concert at St Peter and St Paul Church, Stondon Massey on 4th July 2023. For more information follow this link to the ByrdCentral website: Patronage and Persecution: the William Byrd Anniversary Concert (byrdcentral.com)

William Byrd Anniversary Concert

The Stondon Singers' William Byrd Anniversary Concert will be held on Tuesday 2 July starting at 8.00pm (doors open 7.30pm): St Peter & St Paul Church, Stondon Massey. 

William Byrd Anniversary Concert 2012

Byrd's popularity is clearly undiminished considering the near capacity audience who came to the Stondon Singers concert last evening. The 'William Byrd Anniversary Concert' is something of a fixture for the Choir and St Peter & St Paul Church, thought to be the 43rd occasion the event was held (with the next already programmed for Tuesday 2 July 2013).


This was a programme very much in two parts.  The first included a performance of the 'Five Part Mass' (excluding the Credo) framed first and last by a piece from Byrd's great Gradualia cycle ('Gaudaemus omnes in Domino' (1605) opened; 'Laudate Dominum' (1607) closed). The programme was interspersed by three short pieces by contemporaries of Byrd: Robert White, John Mundy and Robert Parsons (the latter two members of the Chapel Royal).  An organ solo, Byrd's 'Pavan The Earl of Salisbury and Galliard' illustrated to many present Byrd's talent as a keyboard composer.  (We hear very little Byrd performed locally on instruments.)  This was played by Christopher Tinker, the Choir's conductor.

After a long interval so that all could have drinks and nibbles, the second half began with a royal tribute with 'Pastyme with good companye' (Henry VIII); 'O Lord, make thy servant Elizabeth' (Byrd) and 'All Creatures Now' (Bennet).  A reading, four Italian madrigals and a 20th century piece by Kodaly concluded the programme with a song about stealing chickens!

Byrd died on 4 July 1623.  

William Byrd Anniversary Concert

Stondon Singers' William Byrd Anniversary Concert at Stondon Massey

Stondon Singers: 1611 and all that

Although not entitled '1611 and all that', the William Byrd Anniversary Concert at St Peter and St Paul Church explored within the wide-ranging tribute three associations with the year 1611.  Tomas Luis de Victoria, who died in 1611, was represented in the first half by the 'Missa Vidi Speciosam'.  In the second, the 400th anniversary of the Authorised Version of the Bible was celebrated in Michael Aves' 'A Vision of the Word' which drew from the book of Revelation centered on the text in Chapter 1: "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of prophesy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand". Byrd's own music was represented by the songs 'This Sweet and Merry Month' and 'Though Amaryllis dance in green', the former re-published in a collection of 1611; 'Sing Joyfully', the anthem which started the concert; and, three versions of 'Ave Maria'  as representative of his sacred Latin output. At the back of the church the sound was most wonderful and our church representative at the end bid them thanks for the concert and their support of the recent William Byrd Festival, adding "same place, same time, next year".  Hear, hear! 

Stondon Singers Concert Previewed on Phoenix FM

Michael Aves, Chairman, composer, and singer in the Stondon Singers spoke to Ed Wellman yesterday morning on Phoenix FM about the forthcoming 'William Byrd Anniversary Concert' at St Peter & St Paul Church, Stondon Massey on Tuesday 5th July. Michael has composed a piece commemorating the 400th anniversary of publication of the King James' Bible. The Concert also includes a piece by Byrd's Spanish contemporary, Victoria. Hear the interview here.

http://www.phoenixfm.com/2011/06/26/sunday-breakfast-26th-june/

Stondon Singers: William Byrd Anniversary Concert

Something of an annual, and much anticipated, event for Stondon Massey is the concert given by the Stondon Singers in memory of William Byrd, the great early music composer who died on 4 July 1623 in the Essex village. This year it will be held on Tuesday 5 July beginning at 8.00pm.

The Singers secretary writes: “We have decided to move away from the term Memorial concert to the more 'upbeat' Anniversary concert, but the underlying principle, celebrating the music of Byrd, remains the same”.

This year the concert will feature music from Tomas Luis de Victoria, who died in Madrid in 1611. The Spanish composer has a striking similarity with Byrd in that Vittoria (as his name is sometimes spelt) wrote only church music including a complete cycle of hymns for the Roman Catholic liturgical year.

The Stondon Singers return to the lovely little church of St Peter & St Paul, Stondon Massey, following their successful performance at the William Byrd Festival, for their annual celebration of the work of William Byrd and his contemporaries, and his lasting legacy into the present day.

Featured alongside works by William Byrd himself, the highlight of this year’s concert is one of the finest masses by Byrd’s contemporary, Victoria, whose ‘Missa Vidi Speciosam’ forms the central work of the first half.

Also in the concert are madrigals from the same period and contrasting works from later centuries, including an ‘Ave Maria’ by Stravinsky, works by Gabriel Jackson and Imogen Holst, plus a new anthem written specially for the Singers by Michael Aves, celebrating the 400^th anniversary of the King James Bible.

Tickets for the concert cost £12 (£10 for concessions and £5 for children aged 15 and under) and are available from James Dace & Son (Chelmsford), Blackmore Post Office or any choir member. Also on the door on the night, although advance purchase is recommended

The Programme includes:

Victoria: Missa Vidi Speciosam.

Byrd: Sing Joyfully, Ave Maria, Virga Jesse Floruit, This Sweet and Merry Month, Though Amaryllis Dance in Green.

G Jackson: O Sacrum Convivium

I Holst: The Virgin Unspotted, The Twelve Kindly Months, Gypsy Davy

"William Byrd: His Essex Years" in Pictures

Stondon Singers with Richard Turbet (centre) photographed at St Peter & St Paul Church, Stondon Massey, Essex, just before the matinee performance of 'William Byrd: His Essex Years'

Lord Petre was in the audience at 4.00pm

Atmospheric candlelit scene during the evening performance.

Appreciative audience hear The Stondon Singers under their conductor Christopher Tinker

'William Byrd: His Essex Years': Press Release

Early music lovers from far and wide flocked to the small village church of Stondon Massey last weekend to celebrate the life and work of sixteenth century musician and composer William Byrd. The ‘William Byrd Festival’ –which concluded this weekend - has been organised by the congregation in order to raise money to build a new Garden of Remembrance in the churchyard where Byrd is thought to have been buried in 1623.

Leading the cast last Saturday was Richard Turbet, from the University of Aberdeen, an expert on the topic. He was assisted, in a programme called “William Byrd: His Essex Years”, with musical illustrations by the Stondon Singers under their conductor Christopher Tinker.

The Stondon Singers were formed over 40 years ago mainly to perform the music of Byrd and his contemporaries. The Choir holds an Annual Memorial Concert at the church every July.

Lord Petre, whose forebears were Byrd’s patron, attended the matinee performance.

“It was wonderful to welcome Lord Petre to our Festival”, Andrew Smith one of the organisers said. “William Byrd moved to Stondon Massey in about 1593 to be near to Sir John Petre, a Catholic, at Ingatestone Hall. Byrd wrote daring and illegal music for performance at clandestine gatherings. He too was a Catholic at a time when saying the Catholic Mass was illegal. This did not deter him, because he had friends in high places: his music was loved by Queen Elizabeth I who turned a blind eye to his recusant activities”.

William Byrd Festival: "William Byrd: His Essex Years"

Our evening performance of 'William Byrd: His Essex Years' at St Peter & St Paul Church, Stondon Massey, is under way.

THE PROGRAMME

Richard Turbet: William Byrd: His Essex Years (Part 1)

Stondon Singers:

Jubilate (first performance for two centuries)

Susanna fair a3

Susanna fair a5

This sweet and merry month a4

This sweet and merry month a6

Agnus Dei, Mass for 4 Voices *

Interval

Richard Turbet: William Byrd: His Essex Years (Part 2)

Stondon Singers:

Ave verum corpus

Come woeful Orpheus

Who looks may leap

I have been young

Arise Lord into Thy rest

Sing joyfully

William Byrd Festival: "William Byrd: His Essex Years"

Curtain Up! (if we had one) on the William Byrd Festival. This is the first performance (of two) of “William Byrd: His Essex Years”.

THE PERFORMERS

The Stondon Singers were formed in 1968 originally to perform the music of William Byrd at Stondon Massey, where he spent the last thirty years of his life. The annual William Byrd Memorial Concert has been a highlight of their performing schedule ever since, taking place on the first Tuesday in July.

Whilst the works of Byrd and his contemporaries remain at the core of their repertoire, the Singers perform a wide and varied range of music. In recent years this has included performances of Bach’s St John Passion, Monteverdi’s Vespers 1610 and Fauré’s Requiem as well as concerts with madrigals and music of the present era, and their accompanists have ranged from Baroque ensembles to jazz trios.

The Stondon Singers have performed in many venues, including our two local cathedrals, Brentwood and Chelmsford, and also those in Southwark and Bury St Edmunds. Other memorable occasions include mass at St Paul’s Knightsbridge and a Handel concert as part of the Chelmsford Festival.

The Stondon Singers are resident in the atmospheric Priory Church of St Laurence, Blackmore.

Sopranos: Katharine Adams, Michelle Arthur, Jenny Evans, Mavis Holmes, Catherine Kelly, Julie Lorkins, Annabel Malton, Faith Marchal, Karen Mortley, Mary Seckleman, Sally Walker

Altos: Mavis Brown, Audrey Cassidy, Julia Dimon, Jill Evans, Josephine Gordon, Marjolein Hillman

Tenors: Matthew Butt, David Hampson, Alan Haward, David Lloyd, John Waggett

Basses: Michael Aves, David Evans, Phil Holmes, Chris Overy, David Schacht, Derek Taggart

Conductor: Christopher Tinker

Christopher Tinker was educated at the Royal College of Music with studies in organ (Ralph Downes), composition and conducting (Denys Darlow). Postgraduate studies were undertaken at Durham, and later at Lancaster University from where he obtained a Doctorate in music. Following his first post as Organist to The King’s School, Canterbury, he has held positions as Director of Music at a number of schools and colleges both in the UK and overseas, whilst sustaining a broad portfolio as a freelance musician.

His conducting career, embracing amateur and professional fields, has taken him throughout Britain, to many parts of Europe and also to Japan. He has worked with such ensembles as the London Mozart Players, Ulverston Choral Society, Aldeburgh Music Club, Pietermaritzburg Philharmonic Society, Haffner Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Lakeland Singers. He directs the music at St Margaret’s Church, Ipswich, and the concerts season of the Ipswich G&S Society. He is a composer, and his works include choral and instrumental music and a children’s opera. He is currently collaborating with the South African poet, Moira Lovell.

Following a move from London to Ipswich in 2003, an area with which he has a long association through the Aldeburgh Festival, he has been involved with Imogen Holst’s Centenary, including contributions to the book Imogen Holst – A Life in Music (Boydell and Brewer 2007) and a series of lecture recitals at such establishments as the Royal College of Music, Dartington College of Arts and the Holst Birthplace Museum. This also resulted in the production of a CD of Imogen Holst’s string music which won the premier award 2010 from the BBC Music Magazine.

Richard Turbet. Richard is a leading authority on William Byrd, having written or edited over one hundred published works about the composer and related subjects. Richard has given talks at several universities in Britain and the USA, and at the William Byrd Festival in Portland, Oregon, and edited its tenth anniversary commemorative book. He has contributed to the Grove and to Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and is currently compiling the third edition of his book, “William Byrd. A Guide to Research”.

Richard is a retired librarian from the University of Aberdeen where latterly he was Special Collections Cataloguer and subject specialist for Music. For fifteen years he was a cathedral lay clerk.

We are especially grateful to Richard for giving his time in support of St Peter & St Paul Church. He will be giving the address at the Book of Common Prayer: Matins service tomorrow morning at 9.00am.

Byrd at the Beeb: a transcript of the BBC Essex interview

William Byrd Festival organiser, Andrew Smith was on BBC Essex last Sunday morning (1 May 2011) bright and early to tell the county about what was happening at Stondon Massey over these two weekends. This is a transcript of the interview.

1.5.11 7.09am. Ian Wyatt (presenter): Before 7.30 we are going to be looking at the work of William Byrd: the famous Elizabethan composer William Byrd! No, I don’t think I have heard of him either to be honest with you but we will certainly find out about that man before half past seven – he came from Stondon Massey near Brentwood.

7.24am. Ian: Allow me to introduce you now to a musical star who lived in our county almost five centuries ago. His name was William Byrd. He was a composer and among his works was this ….

- Extract from ‘This Sweet and Merry Month of May’ sung by members of The Cambridge Singers directed by John Rutter -

That’s called ‘This Sweet and Merry Month of May’, quite fitting really being May Day, written by William Byrd who lived in Stondon Massey near Brentwood in the sixteenth century. And next weekend the Parish Church of St Peter & St Paul in Stondon Massey will be celebrating his life and work with a William Byrd Festival. The man behind it is Andrew Smith. Andrew is with us this morning in the studio. Morning.

Andrew Smith: Good morning.

Ian: To use a well-known phrase ‘Not a lot of people know about ‘ William Byrd. Well certainly I don’t think I was that familiar with his work. Have you recently discovered him Andrew or have you been a lifelong fan?

Andrew: I wouldn’t say I have been a lifelong fan. I’ve lived around Stondon Massey for a lifetime and the Stondon Singers have an annual concert every July as a Memorial Concert to him. And I think I discovered William Byrd through that. William Byrd actually lived in Stondon Massey for the last thirty years of his life until his death in 1623.

Ian: Right.

Andrew: And perhaps he was buried in the churchyard there.

Ian: Oh right! What brought him then to Stondon Massey in the first place? Do we know?

Andrew: Yes. He was a Catholic, and Lord Petre lived at Ingatestone Hall who himself was a Catholic, and he was Byrd’s patron. Byrd wrote some very daring music for the time because Catholicism, was as such, was banned. The only established Church was the Church of England. And he managed to get away, as such, by what he did in writing Masses, religious music – and madrigals, such as you played – through his connections: his connections with the Petre family, with Queen Elizabeth and later King James I. He was a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal – a Royal Wedding connection there.

Ian: And perhaps some then didn’t perhaps realise the messages in his music.

Andrew: Well I think there were some secret messages in there. There are some works that are clearly written as secret I suppose, shall I put it, protest songs.

Ian. Goodness. Who would have thought you would have had protest songs in the sixteenth century. How important is he in the great scheme of things? Obviously important in Stondon Massey in Essex but, you know, in the Elizabethan music scene was he known nationally at the time?

Andrew: At that time he was highly regarded by people in his circle – by Royalty, as I say, by the Petre family.

Ian: And he obviously wrote quite a bit of music because you have got enough to fill a Festival.

Andrew: He wrote the equivalent of seven CDs, not that CDs were around of course, of instrumental music, 13 CDs worth of Latin church music and several other pieces of music so quite a lot has been rediscovered, I suppose, during the twentieth century when Byrd’s music has become more, shall I say, acceptable.

Ian: Apart from the music at Festival, you’ve got a big Byrd expert coming haven’t you?

Andrew: Yes, a big Byrd expert. His name is Richard Turbet. He comes from the University of Aberdeen and is certainly an expert in the life and work of William Byrd. He’s in fact doing a major research project on Byrd and producing a third edition of ‘A Guide To Research’. We are looking forward very much to his first appearance at Stondon Massey. He is very keen to come and support the church in its work to raise money to build a new Garden of Remembrance.

Ian: Oh lovely. So that’s where the money from the Festival ticket sales are going for the Garden of Remembrance. And if you are interested in William Byrd and finding out a bit more or are going to google him of whatever it’s B-Y-R-D isn’t it? It’s lovely. I think it’s great when we discover more about Essex and I want to play a bit more of ‘This Sweet and Merry Month of May’, which is perfect for today and after this we’ll look at how you get tickets, is that alright Andrew.

Andrew: Yes fine.

- Reprise -

Ian: ‘This Sweet and Merry Month of May’ written by William Byrd of Stondon Massey near Brentwood in the sixteenth century – and we will add that to one of Tim’s list of 31 the songs Andrew, we can get away from that can’t we? If people want to find out more about tickets the Festival covers two weekends. It’s on from the seventh to the fifteenth of May in Stondon Massey Church. There’s a website for details.

Andrew: Yes, that’s right. It’s a blog actually but it’s William Byrd Festival, as one word, dot blogspot dot com.

Ian: Tickets are £12.50 for the music and we’ll put details on the BBC Essex helpline. I hope that the next couple of weeks go really well. I think a lot of people in the area are going to find out more about an old local hero that they may have not known much about before.

Andrew: Thank you.

Ian: Andrew Smith from Stondon Massey.

Ends 7.31am.

This Sweet And Merry Month of May

The madrigal ‘This Sweet and Merry Month of May’ is in a set of pieces published by Byrd in 1611 entitled ‘Psalms, Songs, and Sonnets: some solemne, others joyfull’. But as Edmund Fellowes observes in his book ‘The English Madrigal Composers’ (1948): “The inclusion in this volume of the four part setting … suggests that by no means all of these pieces had been newly composed at the date of publication; this particular madrigal had already been printed with Watson’s ‘First sett of Italian Madrigalls Englished’ as early as 1590”.

This demonstrates the importance of this work in Byrd’s complete output.

The Stondon Singers will be performing this piece on Saturday 7 May (4.00 & 7.30pm) in a programme entitled ‘William Byrd: His Essex Years’. It is also the chosen piece by BBC Essex today heralding the William Byrd Festival.

Stondon Singers: Double Byrd Bill

A very large audience was at the Stondon Singers spring concert yesterday evening at Blackmore Church in a programme which included the ever-popular 'Faure's Requiem'. The Singers next two concerts are both at St Peter & St Paul Church, Stondon Massey, and feature the music of William Byrd.

They write, "On May 7 2011 The Stondon Singers will perform at both a Matinee and Evening Concert / Lecture as part of the William Byrd Festival.

"Richard Turbet, a renowned and published authority on William Byrd will lecture on 'William Byrd - His Essex Years' along with musical illustration provided by the singers. Tickets may be in short supply so book early".

Many who came to the Concert took home ticket application forms.

After the Festival, the Stondon Singers will present their annual 'William Byrd Memorial Concert' which this year will be held on Tuesday 5 July starting at 8.00pm.