A university professor from Huddersfield will be sharing his expertise in early music at a concert in Huddersfield next week.

Prof John Bryan is a member of the renowned Rose Consort of Viols and they will play the opening concert in the new Huddersfield Music Society season which begins on Monday evening (October 7).

The Rose Consort have long been leaders in their field.

The viols are a family of stringed instruments that predate the “modern” violin, viola, cello and double bass.

They were known in Europe as early as the 11th century and were heard at the court of Henry VIII who was introduced to the instruments by Italian and Flemish musicians.

The Rose Consort of Viols takes its name from the celebrated family of viol makers, whose work spanned the growth and flowering of the English consort repertoire.

For this concert, five musicians from the Rose Consort will appear with mezzo-soprano Clare Wilkinson and musician Jacob Heringman, playing the lute.

The concert celebrates 450 years since the birth of English composer John Dowland.

It features songs, lute solos and dance music by him and by his contemporaries, William Byrd and Peter Phillips. This promises to be a well supported concert bringing in people from further afield than usual.

The Consort performs extensively throughout Britain and Europe, appears regularly on the BBC and in the major London concert halls, and has made a number of highly acclaimed recordings.