On Friday, August 1 the “Golden Age” will be revealed in Portland, Oregon. The Golden Age of Music in Elizabethan England that is. Yes, the annual William Byrd Festival opens this Friday with events that offer organ and choral music, enlightening lectures and an immersive late-Renaissance experience that has been a NW favorite since 1998.

This 2025 Festival is a special tribute to prolific English composer Orlando Gibbons, brilliant successor of William Byrd, whose short life ended 400 years ago. And this year’s Festival is lovingly dedicated to William Mahrt, eminent scholar and Festival lecturer for all 26 years, who died this past January. “The Victoria Requiem,” wrote Byrd Festival Director Blake Applegate in recent email to OAW, “will be sung liturgically on August 9th in his honor.”

Sung liturgically

Let’s give that term “liturgically” a little extra time. You immediately associate that term with the church – with music that is sacred. Yes, indeed, there is a hefty amount of sacred music in the Byrd Festival. An awful lot of choral music that has survived from the Western Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque eras is sacred. 

And here in Oregon we do love our sacred choral music. We love the Oregon Bach Festival’s “sacred” side which this year sold out their performances of Bach’s B Minor Mass and St. Markus Passion and the Fauré Requiem. From Portland’s Resonance Ensemble, Damien Geter’s African American Requiem was sent out into the world in 2022. A look back at Oregon Repertory Singers’s history reminds us of their sell-out yearly performances of Rachmaninoff All Night Vigil; Portland Symphonic Choir loves that work so much they are performing it with a dance company.

“Aren’t you forgetting Cappella Romana?” you are thinking. Not possible. Especially since their mission is so like the mission of the Byrd Festival’s Resident Choir, Cantores in Ecclesia. “Gospel Christmas”, presented annually by the Oregon Symphony, has been a tremendous community favorite since 1999; and the Portland Baroque Orchestra’s annual Messiah performance is definitely “sacred.” Bach Cantata Choir, Willamette Master Chorus, In Mulieribus, Choral Arts Ensemble and – whew, sorry! Got caught up in a little choral music geek-out there and didn’t even mention the 20-ish other choirs in Portland alone that sing a variety of wonderful choral music which often includes the new and old sacred choral literature. 

But unique among all is our William Byrd Festival. The WBF offers us the opportunity to hear the majority of this Renaissance choral music in the context of a church service – “sung liturgically.” And all of the Festival’s liturgical offerings – seven total this season – are free. 

Excuse me, what? Yes, the WBF Masses, Compline and Evensong are free, as are two organ recitals and two lectures. All are welcome; come as you are. Welcome are the purely curious; welcome are those who love digging into music which is historically informed and performed – aural archeologists, if you will. Welcome are those who appreciate the power of the music to nurture them in their sacred daily devotion, in whatever form that takes.

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Three weekends, twelve Festival events

On this “at-a-glance” Byrd Festival Schedule of events (also available online here) you may note that five out of twelve events are Masses, one is Compline and one is Evensong. Those latter two are music to sooth the soul into a restful sleep (Compline in the Catholic tradition; Evensong in the Anglican). 

The music of William Byrd features prominently in four of the Masses officiated by the Dominican order at Holy Rosary Parish. Three are Byrd’s Mass settings, one each for three, four and five voices. For those of you who know your Bach Mass in B Minor but don’t yet know Byrd Masses, they are the same sacred text – Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and Angus Dei – although a cappella and about one-fourth the length. All three will be sung by Cantores in Ecclesia with Applegate conducting the Mass for Five Voices on Saturday, August 16. Listen to that Mass here: (Note: musical examples below will be accompanied by a modern score so you can follow or sing along if you wish.)

For a larger dose of musicology listen to (and compare) the “Kyrie” of Mass for 3 Voices here and the “Kyrie” of Mass for 4 Voices here. But, imagine hearing them live, liturgically, in one of the lovely Festival church venues, for free – what a gift.

Music from Byrd’s Gradualia, compilations of music for major feast days in the Church calendar, will be sung in Mass on August 15 by the Byrd Festival Consort conducted by Applegate. This special Consort ensemble will vary in size depending on the Gradualia selections. Consult the on-line Festival program, including program notes, for details. But here is one compact gem, Ecce Virgo Concipiet, for five voices that even many high school choirs could sing (or your neighborhood third Wednesday of each month Renaissance Revelers).  

Learn about the Gradualia and find public domain scores for many of the Gradualia works, like Ecco Virgo Concipiet, here.  

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In Honor Of

One more Mass is on the Festival schedule for Saturday, August 9, at 12 noon and it is “one of the greats” according to Applegate. Cantores in Ecclesia will offer Spanish Byrd contemporary Tomás Luis de Victoria’s Officium Defunctorum, Requiem Mass, in heartfelt tribute to William Peter Mahrt – also one of the greats. “His whole life was spent exploring the riches of sacred music and passing them along to others,” wrote WBF singer, lecturer and renowned Renaissance choral scholar Kerry McCarthy about her mentor and friend. “He came back [to the Festival] faithfully every year,” relayed McCarthy in recent email to OAW. “His last lecture here in August 2024 was a nod to the future, a look into the twentieth century and beyond, listening to recent composers who have been inspired by Byrd’s musical style.” 

Here is the “Introit” to Victoria’s Officium Defunctorum:

McCarthy will deliver a lecture one hour before the Victoria Mass: “Singing the Victoria Requiem: a tribute to Dr. William Mahrt (1939-2025).” Festival faithful know Mahrt always had a special sparkle in his eye when talking about early music; and many see the same sparkle in McCarthy’s eye and appreciate her ability to bring composers and their music to life. 

And now she is reanimating Renaissance choral singers in her upcoming book about real people, real singers, from the Tudor Era. Through her research McCarthy discovered that around 1530 “about 1 out of every 50 literate people in England was a professional church musician of some sort. It was a substantial little slice of the population” (from lecture notes). It is these people she honors. 

“It’s easy to look at them as an anonymous group,” wrote McCarthy, “just a bunch of statistics. I want to push back against that a little, so what I’m doing in one of the chapters of my book is tracing the whole career of one particular singer through almost half a century. It starts with his debut as a boy soprano at the royal court and it ends on the last day of his life.” Oh, how “Doctor Who” is that!

Did she kindly disclose to this writer the name of that real life “particular singer”? No, she did not. Harrumph. But for you she will do so. Join McCarthy at 11 am on Saturday, August 16 in a lecture titled “One singer’s life in Tudor England.” Read more of her scholarly writing here.

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Byrd Festival Director Mark Williams will provide a nice non-choral balance of Byrd and friends in an organ recital on Saturday, August 2 one hour before Compline. You will also see Williams leading the opening and closing concerts – the only two ticketed Festival events (details below). It is on these non-liturgical concerts that you will be introduced to the music of Orlando Gibbons, born one month before the Coronation of Elizabeth I in 1558. Gibbons is known for his spirited madrigals and works for keyboard. Nine of Gibbons’s choral anthems will be sung by Cantores in Ecclesia or the Byrd Festival Consort. The music of Welsh composer and Gibbons contemporary Thomas Tomkins will also be featured. Get a taste of Gibbon’s masterful choral style in this 8-voice anthem, O Clap Your Hands.

Music, liturgy, scholarship, and community

You know, we were once taught that the three B’s of music were Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. You’d have thought it was writ in scripture somewhere. Now not to belittle that sacred trio but obviously somebody forgot about Renaissance music in general and William Byrd in particular. But that’s why there is a William Byrd Festival – the Festival of the Fourth B – a Portland summer celebration of music, liturgy, scholarship and community.

The 26^th Annual William Bird Festival begins with the opening concert on Friday, August 1, 7:30 pm at The Madeleine Church and concludes on Sunday, August 17, 4 pm at the Church of St. Patrick. You can purchase tickets for these two events here.

All other events are free – although free will offerings will be greatly appreciated – and are at Holy Rosary Church with one exception. The Choral Evensong on Sunday, August 10 takes place at The Parish of St. Mark.

For more detail, singer names, biographies, Festival history,  program notes and more consult the on-line Festival Program here.

Music, Poetry and a Premiere Choral Work

Composer and teacher Paul Safar has offered the poetry of Ingrid Wendt a choral voice. Safar selected Wendt’s “Lacrimosa” “in response to the relentless and devastating armed conflicts in today’s world” (media release). “Lacrimosa” (weeping) is included in Wendt’s Yellowglen Award winning book Angle of Sharpest Ascending. Safar, Oregon Music Teachers Association Composer of the year in 2013-14 lives in Eugene. Poet, musician and educator Wendt is also based in Eugene.

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Humanis Choir will premiere Safar’s SATB choral work on August 1 in a concert which also includes piano and hurdy gurdy music by Safar and Marc Egea and poetry readings by Wendt (read more about that concert here). 

Hear a world premiere choral work and more in “Intersections: Music, Poetry and Calls for Peace” on Friday, August 1 at 7:30 pm at Lincoln Recital Hall on the Portland State Campus. Tickets are at the door.

Connections

Portland Symphonic Choir continues their “2025 Summer Sing” 20^th Anniversary celebration. Join them for “The Power of Choir,” a celebration of the human voice as a tool for unity, empathy, and empowerment. The community discussion will be led by DeReau Farrar, Artistic Director of Portland’s queer and allied youth choir, Bridging Voices and Artistic Director of A Notion, A Scream. “Choirs do more than sing,” wrote PSC Artistic Director Alissa Deeter in recent email to OAW; “they build bridges, heal hearts, and amplify voices.” 

Come experience the “Power of Choir” on Wednesday, August 6th, 7:00 p.m. at the historic Alberta House. Admission is free but reserve your seat online by visiting pschoir.org.

And also, mark your calendars for the PSC’s final “Summer Sing” event at which the 2025 Call-for-Scores selections will be revealed. Submissions are being reviewed this week and the works that you can sing and applaud on Wednesday, August 16 at Multnomah Arts Center at 7 pm will be revealed right here on the PSC website very soon.

Reserve your seat for Portland Symphonic Choir’s “Summer Sing” 3 here.

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Looking ahead

The William Byrd Festival always seems to signal the “real” end of the choral music season. But all of our wonderful choirs are preparing in earnest for the 25-26 season of singing. Many have already scheduled their concerts and you can find lots of those on Portland’s “all things choral” reference tool, the PDX Choral Calendar. Thanks, Tom Hard. And watch for OAW’s 25-26 Choral Season preview coming up at the end of August.