The Davey Consort
Liturgical music at St Birinus is provided by The Davey Consort, founded in 2016 by composer and conductor Ryan Wigglesworth and soprano Sophie Bevan MBE, who sing at Mass every Sunday. Alongside the Gregorian chant propers, the Consort sings polyphonic sacred music of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries — much of it not heard for four hundred years or more — at the 11.00 am Sunday Mass and on Feast Days.
The Consort is a registered charity, working to bring this music to a wider audience both in concert and in its true home: the Catholic liturgy.
The St Birinus Festival
Each July the parish comes alive for the St Birinus Festival, four days of concerts, sung liturgies, workshops and talks celebrating the rich heritage of Catholic sacred music, in and around St Birinus Church and Dorchester Abbey.
The festival was founded by Ryan and Sophie as a celebration of the music St Birinus himself brought to England in 634, together with his fellow Benedictine monks. Everyone is warmly invited — many events are free to attend.
Our Organ
Commissioned specially by The Davey Consort for St Birinus Church and designed and built in Lyons by Bernard Aubertin, our organ is a beautiful classical instrument suitable for accompanying the traditional Mass settings sung by the Consort. It is entirely hand-crafted and uses no electronic components save the blower, with distinctive stops including one designed uniquely for the church.