English Renaissance Masters

Renaissance Choir

The Renaissance Choir presents ‘English Renaissance Masters’, featuring choral treasures from the time of the Tudors, including Tallis, Byrd, Taverner, Dowland and others.

This programme is the fourth in our acclaimed ‘Renaissance Masters’ series. To date, we’ve sung gorgeous music from Holland, Spain and Italy and now bring the sensuous strains of Byrd, Tallis, and other Tudor composers to Petersfield.

The Renaissance period was a melting pot in England, with the Church of Rome and the Church of England in a battle for dominance as different monarchs showed their preference. It wasn’t an easy time to be a Roman Catholic – your head could easily part company with your body if you worshipped incorrectly – so some composers (such as William Byrd) used subtle ways to express their faith.

It was also the time of the madrigal in England, and we will sing some of the most popular songs of the time.

Joining us will be fabulous local guitarist, Zoe Barnett, who will be playing a number of works for lute, including pieces by Thomas Campion.