The Rose Consort of Viols is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 ensemble of viol

Viol

The viol is any one of a family of bowed, fretted and stringed musical instruments developed in the mid-late 15th century and used primarily in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The family is related to and descends primarily from the Renaissance vihuela, a plucked instrument that preceded the...

 players that perform mainly early consort music, including works by Gibbons

Orlando Gibbons

Orlando Gibbons was an English composer, virginalist and organist of the late Tudor and early Jacobean periods...

, Dowland

John Dowland

John Dowland was an English Renaissance composer, singer, and lutenist. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep" , "Come again", "Flow my tears", "I saw my Lady weepe" and "In darkness let me dwell", but his instrumental music has undergone a major revival, and has...

 and Purcell

Henry Purcell

Henry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...

.

They have performed around the World at many events, have appeared a number of times for the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

, and have made a number of recordings, several of which have been made in collaboration with Red Byrd, a vocal group from Hyperion Records

Hyperion Records

Hyperion Records is an independent British classical record label.-History:The company was named after Hyperion, one of the Titans of Greek mythology. It was founded by George Edward Perry, widely known as "Ted", in 1980. Early LP releases included rarely recorded 20th century British music by...

.

The name was taken from a famous family of viol makers.

Discography

• Elizabethan Christmas Anthems (with Red Byrd) (Saydisc, 1990)
• Born is the Babe: Renaissance Music for Christmas (Woodmansterne, 1990)
• Dowland: Lachrimae (Saydisc, 1992)
• Ah, Dear Heart (Woodmansterne, 1993)
• All in a Garden Green (Naxos
  Naxos Records
  Naxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...
  
  , 1993)
• William Byrd
  William Byrd
  William Byrd was an English composer of the Renaissance. He wrote in many of the forms current in England at the time, including various types of sacred and secular polyphony, keyboard and consort music.-Provenance:Knowledge of Byrd's biography expanded in the late 20th century, thanks largely...
  
  : Consort and Keyboard Music, Songs and Anthems (with Red Byrd) (Naxos, 1994)
• Thomas Tomkins
  Thomas Tomkins
  Thomas Tomkins was an English composer of the late Tudor and early Stuart period. In addition to being one of the prominent members of the English madrigal school, he was a skilled composer of keyboard and consort music, and the last member of the English virginalist school.-Life:Tomkins was born...
  
  : Consort Music for Viol and Voices; Keyboard Music (Naxos, 1995)
• William Lawes
  William Lawes
  William Lawes was an English composer and musician.-Life and career:Lawes was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire and was baptised on 1 May 1602...
  
  : Consort Music for Viols, Lutes and Theorboes (Naxos, 1996)
• Orlando Gibbons
  Orlando Gibbons
  Orlando Gibbons was an English composer, virginalist and organist of the late Tudor and early Jacobean periods...
  
  : Consort and Keyboard Music, Songs and Anthems (with Red Byrd) (Naxos, 1997)
• John Dowland
  John Dowland
  John Dowland was an English Renaissance composer, singer, and lutenist. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep" , "Come again", "Flow my tears", "I saw my Lady weepe" and "In darkness let me dwell", but his instrumental music has undergone a major revival, and has...
  
  : Consort Music and Songs (Naxos, 1997)
• Henry Purcell
  Henry Purcell
  Henry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...
  
  : Complete Fantazias and In Nomines (Naxos, 1997)
• Alfonso Ferrabosco
  Alfonso Ferrabosco (I)
  Alfonso Ferrabosco was an Italian composer. While mostly famous as the solitary Italian madrigalist working in England, and the one mainly responsible for the growth of the madrigal there, he also composed much sacred music...
  
  : Consort Music (CPO, 1997)
• John Ward
  John Ward (composer)
  John Ward was an English composer who was a contemporary of John Dowland.Born in Canterbury, John Ward was a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral. He went to London where he served Sir Henry Fanshawe both as an attorney in the Exchequer and as a musician. Ward married and had three children...
  
  : Upon a Bank of Roses, Consort Music (CPO, 1998)
• Elizabethan Consort Music and Dramatic Songs (Naxos, 1999)
• Four Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal (Deux-Elles, 2008)

External links

• Rose Consort of Viols official site