Rose Consort of Viols

Continuo Foundation grantee
Supported by Continuo Foundation
The Rose Consort of Viols takes its name from a famous family of sixteenth-century viol makers, whose instruments coincided with the growth of English consort music. With its unique blend of intimacy, intricacy, passion and flamboyance, this music ranges from Taverner and Byrd, to Lawes, Locke and Purcell, and forms the nucleus of the Rose Consort’s programmes.
For nearly four decades the Rose Consort has been delighting audiences across the UK, Europe and further afield. It has performed in London’s Wigmore and South Bank halls, is heard regularly on the BBC, including a Prom concert from Cadogan Hall, and makes frequent appearances at the London International Exhibition of Early Music and York Early Music Festival. It has performed at Festivals in Canada (Festival Vancouver) and the USA (Boston, New York, Boulder, Portland and Seattle) and also featured as a guest ensemble at the Pan-Pacific Gamba Gathering in Hawaii.
It has also performed with the choirs of Manchester Cathedral and Oslo Cathedral, as well as at festivals in Bratislava, Nuremberg, Cologne and in Austria.
The consort’s 21 recordings on Naxos, Deux-Elles and Delphian use three different sets of instruments to cover repertory from the late fifteenth-century origins of consort music to the music of Henry Purcell. The consort has received awards for research and performance of specially devised programmes, and has also commissioned and performed new pieces for voices and viols by Judith Bingham, John Woolrich, and Ivan Moody. For a number of years the Consort appeared at Dartington International Summer School, giving concerts and coaching ensembles, activities it now continues at Benslow Music in Hitchin.
Musicians
- Ibrahim AzizViola da Gamba
- Alison CrumViols, Sackbut
- Andrew KerrViols, Strings, Viola da Gamba
- John BryanViols
- Roy Marks
- Peter Wendland
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Concerts
Past programmes

Music for Violas da Gamba
- 📅Sun, 2 April 2023
- 📍Quaker Meeting House, Blackheath
- 🕑4:00pm
- 🎫refreshments with donation afterwards.

Byrd in the Chamber
- 📅Sun, 2 July 2023
- 📍County Assembly Rooms, Lincoln
- 🕑5:30pm
- 🎫part of martin randall festival

Byrd at Secret Prayer
- 📅Mon, 10 July 2023
- 📍The National Centre for Early Music, York
- 🕑7:30pm
- 🎫£30; under 35s £7

Byrd at Elizabeth's Court
- 📅Tue, 11 July 2023
- 📍The National Centre for Early Music, York
- 🕑1:00pm
- 🎫£22; under 35s £7

Southern Cathedrals Festival
- 📅Sat, 15 July 2023
- 📍Chichester PO19 1PX, UK
- 🕑6:00pm
- 🎫see website
- 🎉Southern Cathedrals Festival

Remembering Byrd and Weelkes
- 📅Wed, 19 July 2023
- 📍Benslow Music, Hitchin
- 🕑8:00pm
- 🎫£20 (under 27s free)

Songs without Words 1
- 📅Sat, 9 September 2023
- 📍St Oswald's Church, Leyburn
- 🕑7:30pm
- 🎫see website
- 🎉Medieval Music in the Dales

Songs without Words 2
- 📅Sun, 10 September 2023
- 📍St Oswald's Church, Leyburn
- 🕑1:00pm
- 🎫see website
- 🎉Medieval Music in the Dales

Our Phoenix, Mr William Byrd
- 📅Mon, 30 October 2023
- 📍St Paul's Concert Hall, Huddersfield
- 🕑7:30pm
- 🎫contact hms