Concerts & Recitals
at the Temple Church

This recital will be live-streamed on the Church's YouTube Channel

For more infromation regarding the Lunchtime Organ Recital Series click here.

THE BAR CHORAL SOCIETY

Greg Morris director

The Bar Choral Society's summer concert featuring Bernstien's great Chichester Psalms. The concert includes a performance by Westminster Abbey's Assistant Organist of Voices of the World - the new work by Iain Farrington, which was first heard at, and commissioned for, the Coronation of King Charles III.

Programme:
Leonard Bernstein: Chichester Psalms
John Rutter: Feel the Spirit
Iain Farrington: Voices of the World 

Performers:
Thomas Cousins treble
Jessica Gillingwater mezzo-soprano
Sally Pryce harp
Rachel Gledhill percussion
Matthew Jorysz organ

for more information and booking please click here.

This recital will be live-streamed on the Church's YouTube Channel

For more information regarding the Lunchtime Organ Recital Series click here.

This recital will be live-streamed on the Church's YouTube Channel.

For more information regarding the Lunchtime Organ Recital Series click here.

England’s Nightingale

The remarkable music of William Byrd

To open our William Byrd Festival, renowned vocal ensemble Stile Antico explore the many faces of this extraordinary composer, among the greatest that England has ever produced. They weave together the strands of Byrd’s complex life as both pillar of the Protestant musical establishment and faithful servant to the underground Catholic community. We encounter Byrd working loyally at the Chapel Royal, hear his anguished musical pleas in support of his fellow Catholics, and savour the gentler music of his latter years. The programme features some of Byrd's most beloved works, including Ave verum corpus, Sing Joyfully, and Ne irascaris, alongside lesser-known gems and music by his pupils Thomas Morley, Peter Philips, and Thomas Tomkins:

Emendemus in Melius

‘A good egg’ – Byrd, the loyal subject
This sweet and merry month a 6
O Lord, make thy servant Elizabeth
Sing joyfully
Nunc Dimittis from ‘Great Service’

‘The caged bird’ – Byrd, the Catholic at court
Vide Domine afflictionem
Haec dies quam fecit Dominum
Ne irascaris, Domine

INTERVAL

‘A country nest’ – Byrd, the Essex Gentleman
Retire my soul
Ave verum corpus
Laudate Dominum, omnes gentes
Optimam partem elegit
Factus est repente
Agnus Dei from 4-part mass

‘Under his wing’ – Byrd, the “much reverenced master”
Domine Dominus noster (Morley)
Ecce vicit Leo (Philips)
Too much I once lamented (Tomkins)

Laudibus in sanctis

for more information and booking click here.

Fretwork

Polyphonic and full of melancholy, the rich sonority and overlapping textures of William Byrd's viol consort music transport us back to the Elizabethan Age and beyond. Byrd's remarkable contribution to the genre includes lighter pieces which delight with their sweetness and tenderness. The beautiful programme from this outstanding group also includes works by Thomas Weelkes who - like Byrd - died in 1623: 

Pavan & Galliard
Fantasy in 6 parts

Three Fantasies in 3 -parts
Fantasy in four parts
Five part Pavan
Browning

2 In Nomines in 5 parts
In Nomine in 5 parts (Weelkes)

Prelude & Ground 
Fantasy: two parts in one the fourth above 

Fantasy in six parts (Weelkes)
Fantasy in six parts

for more information and booking click here.

Westminster Cathedral Choir 

William Byrd and the Tudor revival

The first quarter of the 20th century witnessed a revival of interest in early English choral music. Encountering Tudor music had a profound influence on Vaughan Williams whose Mass in G Minor was the first substantial, unaccompanied Mass setting in a distinctly English voice since the time of Byrd. To perform this glorious, otherworldly work we welcome one of the greatest choirs in the world to the Temple Church. 

Westminster Cathedral Choir gave the first liturgical performance of the Mass in G Minor 100 years ago in 1923. This year they are making history by performing the entirety of Byrd's Gradualia - settings of music for Mass - during choral services at Westminster Cathedral. Their programme tonight includes Marian Propers from Byrd's magnificent collection as well as works by Howells and Roderick Williams:

Introit: Salve sancta parens (Byrd)
Kyrie & Gloria: Mass in G Minor (Vaughan Williams)
Gradual: Benedicta et venerabilis (Byrd)
Alleluia: Post partum Virgo (Byrd)
Credo: Mass in G Minor (Vaughan Williams)
Offertory: Ave Maria (Byrd)
Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei: Mass in G Minor (Vaughan Williams)
Motet: Ave verum corpus re-imagined (Roderick Williams)
Motet: Beata viscera (Byrd)
Organ: Master Tallis' Testament (Howells)
To end: Tribue Domine - Te deprecor – Gloria Patri (Byrd)

for more information and booking click here.

Mahan Esfahani

Although best known for his vocal music, William Byrd also composed startlingly inventive works for keyboard instruments including over a hundred pieces which appear in the manuscripts, My Ladye Nevells Booke and the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, as well as in Parthenia, the first printed collection of music for keyboard in England.

Iranian-American harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, who last year became the youngest ever recipient of the Wigmore Medal, presents a wonderful selection of works from these hugely important collections.  His lunchtime recital concludes with the last of Bach's English Suites, with its grand Prelude, majestic double Sarabande and a veritable totentanz of a Gigue!  

I
William Byrd:
Pavana Lachrymae BK54
Fantasia BK13
Jhon Come Kisse Me Now BK81

II
William Byrd:
Pavana & Galliardo Sir William Petre BK3a/b
Fantasia BK46
The Bells BK38 

III
Johann Sebastian Bach:
English Suite No. 6 in D Minor BWV811
-Prelude
-Allemande
-Courante
-Sarabande
-Gavotte I, Gavotte II
-Gigue

for more information and booking click here.

Stephen King