AUTUMN 2025 READING SESSIONS
If you are interested in hosting a reading session, please let Pedro know.
Voices and Viols Workshop: Sweet William
January 31- February 1, 2026
William Byrd wrote such beautiful music that Queen Elizabeth chose to overlook his recusancy – so long as he wrote music for her Protestant church and sang her praises in his madrigals.
The sweetness of his polyphony contains spicier flavors as well – humor, wit, longing, joy, and sadness. Join us in playing and singing madrigals, motets, and fantasies of this splendid composer.
About Sarah Mead
Sarah Mead is a professor emerita of Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, where she taught historical performance and music history for four decades, and for several years chaired their Medieval and Renaissance Studies program. She served as Conclave Music Director for seven years and returned to that role in 2025. As editor of “News Music” for the VdGSA News, she provides a quarterly selection of music and commentary on both recent and historical works for viols. Her performing editions of historical and original works for viols were published by PRB Productions, and her handbook on Renaissance theory is used in historical music programs around the country. Overseas she has performed, lectured, given master-classes, and led workshops in Brazil, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. She is a sought-after lecturer and ensemble-coach in the US,
Schedule:
Saturday, January 31, 2026
1) 1:00-2:15pm
Break
2) 2:45pm-4:00pm
Sunday, February 1, 2026
1) 1:00-2:15pm
Break
2) 2:45pm-4:00pm
Location: Christ Church Cathedral 1117 Texas Ave, Houston, TX 77002
Fee: $77 for both days, $41 for each day only
Tuning: A=415
2026 Performances
