Name: Orpheus and his Lyre: the Salisbury Connection
Start: 2026-05-03T18:30:00+01:00
Location: Salisbury Cathedral

Orpheus and his Lyre: The Salisbury Connection
Music from the Corfe Family Collection in Salisbury Cathedral Library
Performed by Salisbury Baroque
Leader – Julia Bishop
Solo flute – Cheri Wallace
Solo soprano – Abigail Hooper
Lute/theorbo – Matthew Nisbet
Step back in time, and enjoy the music of Georgian Salisbury.
Salisbury Baroque will perform a selection of pieces from the Corfe Family Music Collection, which is part of the collections of Salisbury Cathedral Library. The Corfe family lived in Salisbury in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and played a prominent role in the musical life of both the city and the Cathedral, working as singers, organists, conductors, and composers. The family’s music collection contains over 200 printed and manuscript scores of works that all have a Salisbury connection.
The programme will feature works by Joseph Corfe (Cathedral Organist 1792-1894), works by other local figures such as Thomas Norris, as well as works by other notable composers of the day such as George Frideric Handel and William Boyce, including Handel’s beautiful setting of Sweet Bird for solo soprano and flute.
Salisbury Baroque is Salisbury’s only period-instrument orchestra. Using copies of instruments of the period, and authentic playing style, the group is able to bring to its audience a sense of intimacy and style difficult to achieve with larger forces and modern, heavier instruments.
In the concert, the Cathedral’s eighteenth-century viola, made in Salisbury by Benjamin Banks, will be played.
This event is part of a weekend of events celebrating Georgian music.