The choir of the William Byrd Festival will be singing the service of Compline at Holy Rosary Church at 8:00 pm on Sunday, August 7. This peaceful, contemplative 45-minute service is the traditional night prayer of the Church, dating back to the time of St. Benedict (480-547) and the first Western monasteries. Compline at the Festival includes choral settings by Tallis and Byrd, along with the three traditional psalms in Gregorian chant. A particular highlight is Byrd’s beautiful setting of the antiphon Miserere mihi Domine, which is sung as a refrain before and after the psalms.