Welcome to the web-site of the Ensemble William Byrd. This year we are celebrating our twentieth anniversary, and during these twenty years we have interpreted a large repertoire selected from the whole of the Renaissance and the Baroque. We have always tried to leave memories such as this one :

"The French ensemble Ensemble William Byrd know how to sing in such a way that the worst heathen could be converted by a motet or a Salve Regina.  Their voices glide peacefully through the room as if seeking to fill the empty spaces without colliding with one another.  The harmony of the spheres in chamber form." [Early Music Festival of Stockholm, 2006]

The critic of the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet here puts his finger on the uniqueness of what we try to do and the way we try to do it : heighten the emotional effect of the music by the magic of the interaction of our solo voices, working together in a chamber context.

OUR REPERTOIRE Consists of all vocal works written between 1450 and 1750 for a group of singers, ideally soloists, with the following particular expertises :

Renaissance music from … England : Tallis, Byrd, Gibbons … … Flanders : Brumel, Ockeghem, Gombert …

Baroque music from … England: Purcell, Blow, Locke … Italy : Monteverdi, Carissimi, Gabrieli, Scarlatti, Allegri … … Germany : Schütz, Buxtehude, Handel, Bach et sa famille … … France : Charpentier, Dumont, Lully …

and also : Baroque music from Portugal : Cardoso, Melgas, Esteves … And Poland: Pekiel, Zielenski …

(see "Programmes" for more detail)

OUR REGULAR ARTISTS : Sopranos : Kaoli Isshiki, Raphaële Kennedy, Alena Dantcheva, Edwigr Parat Mezzos : Brigitte Vinson, Els Janssens, Lucile Richardot Altos : Pascal Bertin, Ryland Angel, Christophe Laporte Tenors : Bruno Boterf, Vincent Bouchot, Adrian Brand Basses : François Fauché, Paul Willenbrock, Jean-Claude Sarragosse, Christophe Gautier Organ and harpsichord : Yannick Varlet