Sir David Willcocks

David Willcocks (born Newquay, 30 December 1919) was one of the most influential English choral conductors and organists of the twentieth century, a central figure in British musical life from the post-war period until the 1980s. His career combined cathedral organ playing with the direction of some of the country's most prestigious choral ensembles.

He began his training as a chorister at Westminster Abbey, between 1929 and 1933, and continued at the Royal College of Music. After becoming organ scholar at King's College, Cambridge, in 1939, the war interrupted his studies; for his military service he was awarded the Military Cross. He completed his training between 1945 and 1947, and then held the organist posts at Salisbury Cathedral (1947-1950) and Worcester Cathedral (1950-1957), where he conducted the Three Choirs Festival. In 1952 he introduced Duruflé's Requiem to Britain.

In 1957 he returned to King's College as organist and director of the chapel choir, a tradition already celebrated, to which he gave fresh impetus. He broadened the repertoire and made the choir better known through radio broadcasts, recordings and tours of Europe, Canada and Africa, and turned the traditional Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols on Christmas Eve into an event recognised in many countries thanks to television and radio. From 1960 he conducted the Bach Choir in London, where he frequently premiered works by contemporary British composers, among them Britten's War Requiem, which was performed in Italy in 1963.

His legacy is associated both with the excellence of the ensembles he led and with his work in promoting choral music, with reference recordings of Bach's St Matthew Passion in English and of Belshazzar's Feast. He presided over the Royal College of Organists and directed the Royal College of Music from 1974 to 1984.