The Byron Consort of Harrow School
Harrow School is one of the oldest and most
famous schools in England – it is a boarding school
for some 800 boys located on the outskirts of London.
Seven former Prime Ministers of England were educated
at Harrow, including Winston Churchill, along with many
other famous Old Harrovians such as Cardinal Manning
and Lord Byron, after whom this group is named.
The Byron Consort is Harrow’s elite
vocal ensemble and was founded a little over three years
ago by Philip Evans, Assistant Director of Music at Harrow.
It consists of three (or occasionally four) Harrow boys
and one adult on each part (Soprano, Alto, Tenor & Bass),
and sings a mixture of sacred and secular music, all of
which is unaccompanied. Many of the boys are ex-choristers
from some of the country’s leading cathedral and
collegiate choirs – we currently have individual
representatives from the choirs of Canterbury Cathedral,
Christ Church Cathedral Oxford, Ely Cathedral, King’s
College Cambridge, New College Oxford and Rochester Cathedral
and two from Westminster Abbey – and many are also
Music Scholars at Harrow. The choir’s repertoire
comes mainly from the Renaissance, Romantic and Modern
periods.
Since its inception the choir has sung regularly
at services and concerts at Harrow and has sung at Salisbury
Cathedral, Sherborne Abbey, the London Oratory, Jesus College
Chapel, Cambridge and Exeter College Chapel Oxford. The
choir sang to an audience of 6000 people in 2003, appearing
in an amplified outdoor concert alongside the Royal Philharmonic
Concert Orchestra. The choir has toured the islands of
Malta and Gozo and given performances at the Cathedrals
of St John and St Paul in Valletta, at St George’s
Basilica in Victoria and at Mosta’s famous Dome Church.
Last year, the choir went on tour to Rome, where it sang
masses in St Peter’s Basilica, Santa Maria Maggiore
and Santa Maria in Trastevere, as well as a concert at
the residence of the British Ambassador to Italy. The
choir also sang for the Holy Father in front of some 10000
people at the weekly General Audience.
The choir has recently visited Venice, and
sang in many of the most glorious buildings there, including
the Basilica of San Marco, the Frari Basilica, and the
churches of San Giorgio Maggiore, Santa Maria dei Miracoli
and San Rocco, as well as visiting the city of Padua and
singing there in the famous Basilica di Sant’Antonio.
