LONG BIO

Hailed by The Observer as ‘a contemporary hero of British choral music’, composer and conductor Bob Chilcott has enjoyed a lifelong connection with singing and choirs. He sang in the choir of King’s College, Cambridge as a chorister and choral scholar, and in the vocal group The King’s Singers. He is Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Singers and is conductor of the Birmingham University Singers. He has guest-conducted choirs in more than thirty countries. 

As a composer he has a large catalogue of music published by Oxford University Press that reflects his broad view of musical styles and genres. His large canon of sacred works ranges from St John Passion and Requiem to A Little Jazz Mass. His catalogue includes music for Christmas, from his extended work Christmas Oratorio to The Shepherd’s Carol, written in 2000 for the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge. 

 He has collaborated with several writers, principally the poet Charles Bennett, with whom he wrote The Angry Planet, composed in 2012 for the BBC Proms, and The Voyage, commissioned by Age UK, and nominated for a Royal Philharmonic Society Award. Their first music drama, Birdland, was premièred at the Oxford Festival of the Arts in June 2022. In 2020, he collaborated with Delphine Chalmers for the American Choral Directors Association Raymond Brock Memorial Commission, writing Songs my heart has taught me, and they also wrote Times and Seasons a book of songs for children. Mary, Mother, written with Georgia Way, received its first performance over Christmas 2022, and in 2023 was released by St Martin’s Voices on the Resonus label. 

 His works are widely recorded by many groups including The Sixteen, Tenebrae, The King’s Singers, The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, Westminster Abbey Choir, Wells Cathedral Choir, Ora, Commotio, and the Houston Chamber Choir. In 2016 he collaborated with the celebrated singer songwriter Katie Melua and the Gori Women’s Choir on the album In Winter, and his most recent recording collaborations are with The Choir of Merton College, Oxford with Christmas Oratorio on Delphian, and St Martin’s Voices on Resonus.

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SHORT BIO

Bob Chilcott has enjoyed a lifelong association with choral music, as a chorister and choral scholar in the choir of King’s College, Cambridge, and as a member of the King’s Singers. He became a full-time composer and conductor in 1997, and has composed a large catalogue of choral music which is published by Oxford University Press. His most often performed pieces include Can you hear me?, A Little Jazz Mass, Requiem, and the St John Passion. 

 Bob has directed choirs in more than 30 countries worldwide and conducts many thousands of amateur singers in a continuing series of Singing Days. Since 2002 he has been Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Singers and since 2019 Principal Conductor of Birmingham University Singers. 

 His music has been widely recorded by leading British choirs and groups including The King’s Singers, King’s College, Cambridge, Wells Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, The Sixteen, Tenebrae, The BBC Singers, The Bach Choir, Commotio, and Ora. Circlesong, recorded by the Houston chamber Choir and Treble Choir of Houston, was released by Signum in January 2022, and his second disc with NFM Wroclaw, Canticles of Light, in January 2023. November 2023 has seen the release of Christmas Oratorio recorded by The Choir of Merton College, Oxford on Delphian and Mary, Mother by St Martin’s Voices on Resonus.