Fieri revisit the legacy of Byrd from a new perspective; featuring Palestrina, Infantas, Philippe de Monte and new music by Ben Rowarth.

Beginning with Philippe de Monte’s Super Flumina Babylonis, which he sent from Flanders to William Byrd in London, this programme travels through polyphony from the 16th century to Byrd’s response Quomodo Cantabimus which asks ‘how can we sing in a strange land?’ referring to the alienation he faced living as a Catholic in England.

Interspersed are four movements of Rowarth’s A Short Walk which play with language and harmony to examine the alienation and displacement one feels journeying through life, on humanity’s ongoing search for paradise.

In 2017, Fieri commissioned a piece from Ben Rowarth in response to the 16th-century Musica Transalpina anthology of Italian madrigals. We recorded the resulting piece ‘A Short Walk’ for our second album ‘The Unknown Traveller’. This album explores the concept of journeying, language and the ways in which we interact with it and each other.

Optional film

In 2021 we commissioned a film to be made in response to this music by Sophia Carr-Gomm. This can be projected during the performance with the singers performing the music live.