The Out of Silence Choir was born during the Arts Council of England's Year of the Artist 2000 when musical director Sally Brown stumbled across three 17th century songbooks in the library of the National Trust's Belton House in Lincolnshire. The inspiration to bring those forgotten songs 'out of silence' came from the tiny inscription, ‘Madam, I desire you to here me', (sic) scrawled in spidery hand-writing on the opening page of Lady Anne Mason's hand-written songbook of 1667. It is as if the author called out to the future, asking for the music to be heard. From the start, the aim was to enter into a dialogue with history, not only researching lost stories and songs but also writing new music to draw the listener in to the spirit of a time and a place, connecting to feeling and atmosphere in a way that only music can.