Sir David Willcocks

Bio

Sir David Willcocks (1919–2015) was a distinguished British choral conductor, organist, and composer whose career shaped the sound of British choral music in the second half of the twentieth century. After studying at the Royal College of Music and serving in the Second World War, he held successive posts as organist of Salisbury, Worcester, and King’s College, Cambridge, where his direction of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols became internationally renowned. As conductor of the Bach Choir and artistic director of the Three Choirs Festival, Willcocks championed both Renaissance polyphony and contemporary British composers. His numerous choral arrangements—especially of Christmas carols—remain staples of the repertoire, and his editions of Tudor church music set new standards of scholarship and performance practice.