King of Glory: Music for Choir and Organ from the Golden Age of English Church Music

The opening concert of this year’s William Byrd Festival is a tribute to Orlando Gibbons on the 400th anniversary of his death in 1625. Mark Williams will direct and accompany the eight voices of the Festival Consort in a wide-ranging program of music from the early seventeenth century, the dawn of the baroque era in England, as composers were perfecting the art of sacred music in English. The program is a feast of solo and ensemble singing, with works by Gibbons and his contemporary Thomas Tomkins, along with some beloved classics by Byrd. Highlights include Tomkins’ setting of the biblical lament When David heard that Absalom was slain and Gibbons’ epic See, see the word is incarnate. These anthems and songs come from the same world that produced the poetry of John Donne and George Herbert, and they are every bit as intense and beautiful.

The concert will be followed by a reception in the Madeleine Parish Courtyard.


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