I Dodici: Gentleman of the Chapel Royal

Ensemble I Dodici marks the 400th anniversary of William Byrd’s death at the Aurore – Helsinki Renaissance Music Festival with a programme of his exquisite yet rarely performed consort music. The sublime combination of voices and viols, considered to be the crowning jewel in music from the Elizabethan age, was reserved exclusively for the wealthiest of patrons including the most prestigious of all: the Chapel Royal. The concert features the most masterful of Byrd’s verse anthems, consort songs and music for viols performed by a stellar ensemble under the artistic direction of George Parris.

Byrd’s life coincides with the ascendency of “consort music”, a term relating to the performing of fantasias, anthems, songs, and dances in a private setting for the amusement of a select handful of listeners or simply the players themselves. The chief instrument of this was the viola da gamba, or ‘viol’, favoured for its capability…