Our Lady of Walsingham Institutes of Catholic Culture Studies
The Board of Directors of Our Lady of Walsingham Institutes of Catholic Culture Studies is delighted to announce the appointment of a native Houstonian, Mr. Edward J. Lawrence, as director of both the William Byrd Music Institute and, under its auspices, the William Byrd Conservatory.
Mr. Lawrence has developed a series of proposed programs featuring, not only established artists, but a fine chamber orchestra of young aspiring musicians. As director, Mr. Lawrence will organize, schedule, and participate in the scheduled concerts, as well as in the instruction of students through the Conservatory. The aim of the William Byrd Music Institute is the presentation of music and ideas that arise from our profoundly Catholic understanding of beauty as a means of lifting the human heart. In Mr. Lawrence’s words, “I think it is important that we celebrate and learn to love all that God has given to us for our spiritual elevation and contemplation.”
The first concert season begins on November 20, 2011 (details below). Mr. Lawrence describes this concert series as a truly cooperative venture in the best sense of the word. “Through these efforts we seek above all to honor our Lord, our Holy Mother and all the saints. Many of these beautiful works are the tokens of lives already lived in a walk with Jesus. We also hope to walk this same path with our minds and hearts uplifted.”
One of Mr. Lawrence’s most important projects is the institution of the String Music Program through the William Byrd Conservatory. As Mr. Lawrence says, “The violin family is just one more of the astonishing creations of Catholic culture. The instruments themselves are the very embodiment of Greek mathematical and musical concepts as developed and in the world of the Italian Renaissance. They represent mankind’s finest attempt to recreate the sound of the human voice by the effort of human ingenuity and labor.” Mr. Lawrence believes that it is vital that training on these instruments “be conducted in a setting similar to the one which engendered their birth and development.”
With Mr. Lawrence’s appointment to the William Byrd Music Institute
the Walsingham Institutes’ dual objective of reviving Catholic musical
culture and involving young people in that revival will be realized.
Tickets at the door: $25 for adults Students/Seminarians/Clergy: $10 each