Bless This House | Herdwyck Consort (vocal group)

The Herdwyck Consort begins its 2012 concert season with a unique concert in the magnificent setting of Greystoke Castle, home to the Dukes of Norfolk and their descendants for many centuries. In the sixteenth century the Howard family were prominent Catholics, defying Queen Elizabeth and in several cases dying for the cause of Catholicism in a country hostile to Rome. Catholics (known as 'recusants') celebrated the Mass in secret, always in fear of arrest or persecution.

William Byrd, one of the most celebrated composers of Elizabeth's reign, and also a Catholic, wrote incomparably beautiful and heart-felt music for these secret services, including his three Mass settings and many Latin motets. The Herdwyck Consort, with Andrew Leavett on the chamber organ, will be performing music by Byrd and other Catholic composers of the period in the great hall of Greystoke Castle, where secret Masses like this may have taken place.

This concert offers a rare and special opportunity to hear this stunning music in the kind of historical context for which it was written.