Stephen Wilkinson (musician)

Stephen Wilkinson, MBE (born 1919) is an English choral conductor.

As a boy, he was a chorister at Christ Church, Oxford, and studied English and music at the University of Cambridge. He was organ scholar of Queens' College, and studied the harpsichord with Boris Ord and singing with George Parker. During World War II, he served in the Royal Navy, and was mentioned in despatches "for courage and undaunted devotion to duty" in August 1944.[1]

From 1951-2, Wilkinson was director of the Hertfordshire Rural Music School, and in 1953 was appointed to the staff of the BBC.[2] He became conductor of the BBC Northern Singers in 1962, and remained in this role for forty years,[3] directing them five times at The Proms.[4] He also directed the William Byrd Singers,[5] with whom he was closely associated from their formation in 1970, together with their companion string ensemble Capriccio, founded in 1991. Composers such as John McCabe have dedicated works to Wilkinson. He was appointed MBE in 1992 for services to choral music.

Wilkinson retired from conducting the William Byrd Singers in May 2009 at the age of 90, after 39 years.

References

  1. ^ Minewarfare & Clearance Diving Officers' Association Archives
  2. ^ Oxford Dictionary of Music, 2nd revised edition. Oxford University Press. 24 Nov 1994. ISBN 978-0198691624. 
  3. ^ Extraordinary Stephen's going out on a high, Manchester Evening News, 14 May 2009
  4. ^ BBC Proms Archive
  5. ^ Dressler, John Clay (September 2004). Alan Rawsthorne: a bio-bibliography. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 81. ISBN 9780313305894. http://books.google.com/books?id=ylKxV74eergC&pg=PA81. Retrieved 31 August 2010.