-
SECRET BYRD
Celebrating the 400 year legacy of William Byrd
“Effortless perfection”
-The Observer
England’s finest composer was a covert Catholic facing brutal prosecution. Hear Byrd’s Mass for 5 Voices as he intended: sung for worship in strictest secrecy.
Co-commissioned by St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London, and Washington National Cathedral, D.C. Fretwork and The Gesualdo Six collaborate for the first time in a theatrical seance by candlelight to commune with some of the most ravishing music ever written.
“Profound, spiritual, and beautiful.”
“Secret Byrd mixes music, history, and drama, and what emerges in an experience that is neither concert nor theatre, but something out of life itself.”
-The Financial Times
Secret Byrd
Created and Directed
by Bill Barclay
Featuring:
THE GESUALDO SIX
& FRETWORK
(UK)
or CATHEDRA
& ABENDMUSIK
(US)
Please see touring dates on the left for performer information.
costumes by Arthur Oliver
Downloads
press
“Musically it’s glorious…chillingly authentic…ominous, buoyant and uplifting… What better way to open this year’s 400th anniversary celebrations.
“The spirit of clandestine celebration of a Catholic mass is at the heart of Bill Barclay’s Secret Byrd…The all-male voices ring out with intonational precision and an almost ecstatic connection to text that would have delighted Byrd.”
Read the full GUARDIAN review.
“Quietly transfixing…In the atmospheric catacombs below Green-Wood Cemetery, the singers of Cathedra, supported by the string ensemble Abendmusik, enact an immersive ritual around a candlelit table, raising their voices, one to a part, in Byrd’s solemn strains.”
“If they haven’t already filmed this, they should for when the initial tour is over. In the meantime, do try to see it live.”
“Already atmospheric and resonant, the space became a time machine.
“That this all had a beautiful sound goes without saying; it also had a deep and beautiful spirit and effect that went beyond music. Secret Byrd mixes music, history and drama, and what emerges is an experience that is neither concert nor theatre, but something out of life itself.
“Music-making is a social activity, and Byrd’s masses were not the concert pieces we hear today — they had a social and ceremonial purpose and meaning that existed beyond the music’s duration and cemented social bonds. Secret Byrd brings this together again into something real and profound.”
“High drama…and excellent performances…An effective and compelling dramatic presentation, as well as a reminder of our hope for a world in which people’s differences of belief are tolerated and respected.”
“What to do with an event that resists characterization? You could feel the composer’s heart and soul…The skill on hand was unequivocally impressive.
“The singers, richly costumed in period dress, and the musicians, at home on three sizes of viola da gamba, brought Barclay’s vision to multidimensional life.”
2023 Tour and Tickets
Jan 27-28 UK Premier in the West End, with The Gesualdo Six and Fretwork. SOLD OUT
March 4-5 US Premier in at Washington National Cathedral in DC, with Cathedra. SOLD OUT
April 19 Bridgewater, VA with Cathedra.
May 11 St Paul’s School, New Hampshire, with Cathedra.
June 9-11 Death of Classical, Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn NY, with Cathedra and Abendmusik.
June 29 Oxford Festival of the Arts (UK), with The Gesualdo Six and Fretwork.
July 2 Lincoln (UK) with Martin Randall Travel, with The Gesualdo Six and Fretwork.
September 7 The Mount Without, Bristol (UK), with The Gesualdo Six and Fretwork.
September 8 St Martin-in-the-Fields revival, London with The Gesualdo Six and Fretwork.
September 13 St Marys, Haddington at the Lammermuir Festival, Scotland, with The Gesualdo Six and Fretwork.
October 13 St. Bartholomew’s, Brighton Early Music Festival, with The Gesualdo Six and Fretwork.
November 14-15 Performance Santa Fe, with The Gesualdo Six and Abendmusik.
December 2 National Centre for Early Music, York (UK), with The Gesualdo Six and Fretwork.
“Secret Byrd is deeply moving – a spiritual experience sensitively translated for a secular age…touring the UK and US throughout this year, it is the brainchild of Bill Barclay, a well-established master of sui generis music-theatre events. This collaboration with the vocal ensemble The Gesualdo Six and viol consort Fretwork has his meticulous fingerprints all over it.”
Read more from The Tablet below.
From Creator Bill Barclay:
“For Byrd’s anniversary I wanted to highlight a part of his personality that is little understood: his courageous activism.
Part art installation, part concert, and part immersive theatre, Secret Byrd will tour Byrd’s essential story, to highlight religious persecution still afflicting the world today, and perhaps most importantly – to encourage us all to let people believe what they wish.
I fervently believe that once we stop trying to convince people they’re wrong, we can move to the next stage of our evolution – working together to protect a world where we each get to choose our fate.”
Concert-theatre at its most intimate
Singers are staged to manage the house, light the candles, and gather to worship. They sing the Ordinary movements of the mass that Byrd set, while the strings play the Proper movements (the sections that change in the liturgy week to week). At one moment a rude interruption crashes into the serenity of the evening, and a sacrifice must be made.
Bread is broken by the audience where communion occurs in the mass. What was a solemn reenactment turns to a celebration of life and the searing power of music.
A gallery of the history of Catholic recusancy and religious persecution still occurring today is included for audiences to learn about Byrd’s incredible faith and advocacy. Please read the program notes on the right to learn more about what motivates this production.
Light, Smells, and Taste
Concert Theatre Works uses imaginative production techniques to bring music to life. Soup and bread cooked on site are passed to foster a sense of ritual and inclusivity. Candlelight is important to the performance but may be amended with each venue. Audiences rove freely among the costumed artists feeling the original hand-made part-books and sacred objects.
“Few opportunities to hear [Byrd’s] music are as intimate or visceral as Bill Barclay’s “Secret Byrd,” an immersive program extremely on trend for classical music right now…The Gesualdo Six sang magnificently in tune; the ensemble was faultless. Their sound is precision-tooled for blend, perfectly rounded, and has the utmost ease and precision.
“Secret Byrd is a novel and engrossing way of bringing Renaissance music to the public and is done with an intimacy and imagination that embeds this music within the world.”
“Secret Byrd is an intriguing example of how to create a non-traditional concert experience. It enhances the context around the music instead of competing with it. Most importantly, the form the theatrical presentation takes serves the interests of the music rather than working against it, by allowing audiences a rare chance to experience expert singers performing this detailed, intimate music in close quarters.”
This production is possible through a project grant by the:
