STEPHEN CLEOBURY
Director of Music, Choir of King's College, Cambridge
Stephen Cleobury is associated with two of Britain's most famous choirs. As Director of Music at King's College, Cambridge and Conductor Laureate of the BBC Singers, he also works with leading symphony orchestras and period instrument ensembles. He ranges across a broad repertoire, from Gregorian chant to newly composed works. He has particularly championed contemporary music and at King's has commissioned a carol annually for A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. In March 2005, he instigated the first Easter Festival of Music at King's. He has premièred many works with the BBC Singers, notably Giles Swayne Havoc at the Royal Albert Hall at the Proms, and Edward Cowie Gaia, both with the Endymion Ensemble. In 2004, also at the Proms, he gave the British première of Harrison Birtwistle Ring Dance of the Nazarene with the same forces. Subsequently, he premièred Errollyn Wallen Our English Heart in Portsmouth with the BBC Concert Orchestra and Singers as part of the Nelson celebrations.
As Conductor of the Cambridge University Music Society, Stephen has directed the major works for chorus and orchestra as well as symphonic repertoire. Recent CUMS performances have included Mahler Resurrection Symphony, Boston; Berlioz Requiem, Ely Cathedral; Dvorák Stabat Mater, King's Chapel; Vaughan Williams A Sea Symphony, Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford; and Tippett A Child of Our Time, Verdi Requiem and Handel Solomon, King's Chapel.
He frequently appears in this country and abroad as a conductor, leader of conducting workshops and solo organist. As a conductor he has worked with many ensembles, including the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Concert Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the London Philharmonic, Southbank Sinfonia, the Academy of Ancient Music, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Endymion and His Majesty's Sagbutts and Cornetts. Of late, performances as an organ recitalist have taken him to venues as diverse as Hong Kong, Haderslev Cathedral in Denmark and Salt Lake's huge LDS Conference Center. He has directed the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City, recorded with the BBC Singers a CD of Tippett's choral music, and conducted the Israel Camerata in Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem, and the National Chamber Choir of Ireland in Dublin.
The Choir of King's College, Cambridge is represented by Intermusica.
Please contact Serena Evans at sevans@intermusica.co.uk for further information.
May 2007 / 359 words.
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