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STEPHEN CLEOBURY
December 2000
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Director of Music, Stephen Cleobury |
As Director of Music at King's College, Cambridge, and Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers, Stephen Cleobury is associated with two of Britain's outstanding choirs.
King's College Choir was founded in the 1440s by King Henry VI. The worldwide reputation it enjoys today has grown from the annual broadcast on Christmas Eve of A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, which is heard by a radio audience estimated at tens of millions; from its countless recordings for EMI, Decca and other labels, and from its international touring program.
Under Stephen Cleobury's direction the choir has maintained standards of musical excellence and continues to broaden its repertoire, commissioning new works, and performing baroque and classical works with period-instrument orchestras and with many distinguished solo singers. In recent years Stephen Cleobury and King's College Choir have established a fruitful relationship with The Brandenburg Consort.
The BBC Singers, Britain's only full-time professional choir, recently celebrated their 70th birthday. Their versatility and virtuosity are legendary. In particular, their expertise in 20th-century music has attracted plaudits from contemporary composers such as Berio, Boulez, Henze, and Maxwell Davies.
Stephen Cleobury's work with the BBC Singers ranges over a broad spectrum of repertoire. He has recorded CDs of Bach, Charles Ives, Richard Strauss and Giles Swayne with the group, and regularly appears in London's concert halls with the Singers. The past season included a Prom premiere of a new work by Giles Swayne, a tour in Spain, and an appearance at the BBC's Messiaen Festival.
Stephen Cleobury is also conductor of the orchestra and chorus of the Cambridge University Musical Society, and much in demand as a conductor and organ recitalist. He teaches at King's College and at the Royal College of Music, where he is a Fellow and Visiting Professor. He has served as President of the Royal College of Organists, and sits on the Council of the Royal School of Church Music.
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