Corvus Consort presents ‘Byrd Takes Flight’, its commissions project for 2023, commemorating 400 years since the death of William Byrd.

“Byrd Takes Flight” sees Corvus Consort join forces with instrumental duo Music on the Edge to present a groundbreaking convergence of old and new, as voices and instruments intertwine to explore soundworlds that transcend the centuries between them.

Four newly-commissioned works explore the enduring strength of Byrd’s influence, which stretches right through to the 21st century. Each new commission is composed as a partner piece to a particular work by Byrd, placing Byrd’s musical voice in direct dialogue with the voices of some of today’s most exciting young composers.

Click here to read more about the project.

Corvus Consort and Ferio Saxophone Quartet in session recording Owain Park’s Miserere after Allegri for their album ‘Revoiced’ on Chandos Records.

Recorded November 2021 at St Jude-on-the-Hill, Hampstead Garden Suburb. Video by Classical Films (David Hinitt, Tom Mungall, Mike Panayiotis). Sound by David Hinitt and Adrian Peacock.

The first of 12 short videos, produced as part of the Consort’s Christmas project “Twelve Composers Composing”, released on Christmas Day 2020.

Twelve of the UK’s most exciting young composers were commissioned to write twelve new miniature works for a choir of twelve voices based on the text of the well-known song The Twelve Days of Christmas — the resulting twelve works were recorded by the Consort and premiered online in twelve short videos released daily throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas.

Click here to watch all the videos.

Corvus Consort performs ‘O vos omnes’ by Renaissance Spanish composer Tomás Luis de Victoria, with instrumental improvisations by Susie Hodder-Williams and Chris Caldwell of Music on the Edge.

Recorded during the Coronavirus lockdown, with audio and video production by the Consort’s director, Freddie Crowley.

Featured by The Sixteen as part of their Sounds Sublime festival on 18th July 2020 #soundssublimeonline.

Corvus Consort and Ferio Saxophone Quartet perform J. S. Bach’s ‘Jesus bleibet meine Freude’ (often also known in its popular English translation ‘Jesu, joy of man’s desiring’), from his cantata Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147.

Audio and video production by the Consort’s director, Freddie Crowley.

PREMIERED 18th July 2020, as part of The Sixteen‘s Sounds Sublime festival #soundssublimeonline.

Live in concert, the Ferio Saxophone Quartet performs Gabriel Pierné’s ‘Introduction et variations sur une ronde populaire’, which features on their 2017 album ‘Flux’.