For fifteen years now, the Ensemble européen William Byrd has been performing Renaissance and Baroque vocal music, with a particular emphasis on the 17^th century.

Whereas the High Renaissance is dominated by the Flemish school, and the High Baroque by the Italian, in the settecento each country has its own style, as each feels their way, at their own speed, towards the new Baroque world. For our programmes, we try to highlight these differences by searching out masterpieces from those countries that might be considered out of the main-stream (England, Bohemia, Portugal, Mexico) and bringing them into the context of the central tradition of Italy, France and Germany.

Our interpretations are based on the most rigorous musicological research of our director, Graham O'Reilly. One thing he has become convinced of is that virtually all the music composed between 1450 and 1750 was conceived for solo voices, rather than for choirs as we now understand them.

The Ensemble therefore performs almost exclusively therefore with solo voices. This has several incidental advantages for the listener :
- The contrapuntal structure is much clearer when each part has not only it own tessitura but its own particular colour
- each voice also having its own personality, the emotion expressed is much more intense.

To these singers, instruments are added for programmes that require them from a regular team comprising some of the best players in Europe. The ensemble can thus offer a wide range of concerts, both in size (from 6 to 75 artists - for Biber's Missa Salisburgensis) and style.

Artists of the Ensemble
• Catherine Greuillet, Raphaële Kennedy, Alena Dantcheva, Karine Sérafin : sopranos
• Brigitte Vinson, Els Janssens : mezzos
• Pascal Bertin, Ryland Angel, Christophe Laporte, Philippe Barth : altos
• Bruno Boterf, Vincent Bouchot, Hervé Lamy, Adrian Brand : tenors
• François Fauché, Paul Willenbrock, Jean-Claude Sarragosse : basses
• Yannick Varlet : organ
• Marc Wolff, Manuel Degrange : theorbos
• Meike Augustin, Françoise Augustin, Virginie Descharmes : violins
• Dominique Dujardin, Emilia Gliozzi, Elisa Joglar : cellos
• Marianne Müller, Sylvie Moquet : gambas
• Alexandre Salles : bassoons
• Christophe Mazeaud : flutes and oboes

It has been heard in the most famous festivals in France : Ambronay, the Festival d'Île de France, La Chaise-Dieu, the Château of Versailles, the Cathédrales de Picardie, St Riquier, Périgord Noir, St Michel-en-Thiérache, Lourdes …

… and abroad : Boston Early Music Festival, Lufthansa Festival of London, Festival Polifonico d'Arezzo (Italy), Festival de Musica Antiga de Barcelona and the Festival de Musica Sacra de Madrid (Spain), Jornadas Gulbenkian de Musica Antiga (Lisbon) and the Festival de Mafra (Portugal), Festival van Vlaanderen-Brugge, Brussels, Mons, Tongres … (Belgium), Festival Early Music Utrecht (Holland), Festivals in Potsdam, Regensburg, Leipzig and Steinfurt (Germany), Bergen International Festival (Norway), Vantaa Baroque Festival (Finland), Tallinn (Estonia), Saint Petersburg and Moscow, Switzerland, Croatia and Slovenia, Malta …

The Ensemble européen William Byrd receives the support of the DRAC Ile of France, of the General Council of the Val d'Oise of Spedidam, and AFAA.

It is a member of the Fevis (Fédération des Ensembles Vocaux et Instrumentaux Spécialisés).