William Lyons

The historically oriented wind player William Lyons has been more visible to the general public than most other Renaissance specialists, for he has performed on, consulted on, or composed music for a variety of hit films and theatrical plays set during historical eras. He is also the director of two influential Renaissance ensembles and is active as a researcher and educator. As early as 1993, Lyons served as historical advisor and arranger for the dark comedy film The Advocate, also known as The Hour of the Pig. He went on to serve in the same capacity on 2004's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and he also appeared as a performer on that film's soundtrack. Lyons has been heard on several more hit films, including Shrek the Third (2007), where he was a period-instrument orchestra leader, Robin Hood (2010), and Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), where he played the recorder and was credited as Bill Lyons. He has composed or arranged historical music for several other films, including Pride & Prejudice (2005), Mary, Queen of Scots (2018), and Emma (2020). His dramatic music credits also include a long association with Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London, where he has composed music and served as musical director for many Shakespeare plays as well as new works. He has also been part of onstage ensembles there. At Britain's National Theatre, he composed the score in 2015 for the company's noted production of Everyman, Carol Ann Duffy's modern adaptation of a medieval morality play. Lyons has composed music for diverse events including a soundscape for a Renaissance wedding painting by Martin van Cleve, for the British Library's exhibition "Shakespeare in Ten Acts," and for several BBC radio programs. Away from stage and screen, Lyons directs two successful early music groups, the City Musick and the Dufay Collective. As a performer, he is active with such groups as Florilegium and I Fagiolini. Lyons has performed on various instruments, including recorder, shawm, hurdy-gurdy, dulcian, and various flutes. He has issued two albums on the Avie label, I have set my hert so hy: Love & Devotion in Medieval England (with the Dufay Collective) and The Topping Tooters of the Town: Music of the London Waits, 1580-1650 (with the City Musick). Lyons is a professor at the Royal College of Music in London and is noted as a researcher in the field of historical performance practice.