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Alexander Brett Stobbs (born 30 January 1990), (Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England) is a British musician with cystic fibrosis who was the subject of the Channel 4 Cutting Edge documentary A Boy Called Alex [1] in 2008 and its sequel, Alex: A Passion for Life [2] in 2009.
After completing his academic and musical studies at Stoke Brunswick, Stobbs joined the choir of King's College, Cambridge. During his time as a chorister, he participated in a recording of Johann Sebastian Bach's Magnificat with King's College for EMI, a piece he would later conduct. As a choral scholar at King's College, he studied music and on 5 April 2009, conducted Bach's St Matthew Passion at Cadogan Hall in London, featuring the Rodolfus Choir and Southbank Sinfonia. This performance was in support of individuals living with cystic fibrosis. Stobbs took early inspiration from the works of Walter de la Mare and British novelist Jo Rowling. He continued his music education as a scholar at Eton College, where he conducted Bach's Magnificat in March 2007.
In September 2009, he published A Passion for Living, a diary detailing his experiences during his A-levels and his preparation for performing Bach's Matthew Passion . In July 2018, Stobbs received third prize in the Joan Chissell Schumann Prize for Piano at the Royal College of Music. [1]
Stobbs’ story and accomplishments were featured in two television documentaries. Both were directed by Paddy Wivell, produced by Walker George Films, and were broadcast on Channel 4.
The first, A Boy Called Alex, [2] followed Alex's efforts to conduct Bach's Magnificat while living with cystic fibrosis. [3] It aired in 2008 and received a BAFTA nomination in 2009. [4]
The second documentary, titled Alex: A Passion For Life, was broadcast in October 2009. It documented Stobbs' first year at King's College, Cambridge, as he prepared to conduct Bach's Matthew Passion with a full orchestra in the Cadogan Hall, highlighting his experiences with cystic fibrosis. [5] [6]
He appeared on the UK talk show Richard & Judy in January 2008, on which he performed Rachmaninov's Prelude in G sharp minor, Op. 32/12.
Karl Richter was a German conductor, choirmaster, organist, and harpsichordist.
Sir Stephen John Cleobury was an English organist and music director. He worked with the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, where he served as music director from 1982 to 2019, and with the BBC Singers.
Sir David Valentine Willcocks, was a British choral conductor, organist, composer and music administrator. He was particularly well known for his association with the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, which he directed from 1957 to 1974, making frequent broadcasts and recordings. Several of the descants and carol arrangements he wrote for the annual service of Nine Lessons and Carols were published in the series of books Carols for Choirs which he edited along with Reginald Jacques and John Rutter. He was also director of the Royal College of Music in London.
Joshua Rifkin is an American conductor, pianist, and musicologist. He is currently a professor of music at Boston University. As a performer, he has recorded music by composers from Antoine Busnois to Silvestre Revueltas; as a scholar he has published research on composers from the Renaissance to the 20th century.
Johann Sebastian Bach's Magnificat, BWV 243, is a musical setting of the biblical canticle Magnificat. It is scored for five vocal parts, and a Baroque orchestra including trumpets and timpani. It is the first major liturgical composition on a Latin text by Bach.
Cutting Edge is a British TV documentary series broadcast by Channel 4. It had been Channel 4's flagship documentary series between 1990 and 2017 that focused on political and social issues.
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including orchestral music such as the Brandenburg Concertos; solo instrumental works such as the cello suites and sonatas and partitas for solo violin; keyboard works such as the Goldberg Variations and The Well-Tempered Clavier; organ works such as the Schubler Chorales and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor; and choral works such as the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. Since the 19th century Bach Revival, he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music.
Charles Daniels is an English tenor, particularly noted for his performances of baroque music. He is a frequent soloist with The King's Consort, and has made over 25 recordings with the ensemble on the Hyperion label.
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The Bach Choir is a large independent musical organisation founded in London, England in 1876 to give the first performance of J. S. Bach's Mass in B minor in Britain.
Notable recordings of Johann Sebastian Bach's St Matthew Passion (Matthäus-Passion) are shown below in a sortable table.
Walker George Films, founded in 2005 by Stephen Walker and Sally George, is a production company producing films for British television, including the BBC, ITV and Channel 4.
John Butt is an English orchestral and choral conductor, organist, harpsichordist and scholar. He holds the Gardiner Chair of Music at the University of Glasgow and is music director of the Dunedin Consort with whom he has made award-winning recordings in historically informed performance. He is a prolific scholar, conductor and performer of works by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Stephen Walker is a British author and filmmaker. He was educated at Oxford and Harvard universities. He has directed or produced around 30 films, and was twice voted in the top 10 directors in the UK in Broadcast magazine. His production company is Walker George Films. His author website is Stephen Walker Beyond.
Christopher Stephen Varcoe is an English classical bass-baritone singer, appearing internationally in opera and concert, known for Baroque and contemporary music and a notable singer of Lieder.
The Magnificat, Wq 215, H.772, by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach is a musical setting of the biblical canticle Magnificat as an extended composition for voices and orchestra in nine movements, composed in Berlin in 1749. It is the composer's first extant major choral composition.
Gustav Classens was a German conductor who shaped musical life in Bonn. He was municipal music director and conductor of the Beethoven Orchester Bonn from 1933 to 1949, continuing concerts during World War II and reviving them after the war. He was then for decades conductor of the choir Chor der Bonner Bach-Gemeinschaft that he founded.
Isaiah Burnell (1871–1951) was a British music teacher and composer whose musical activities were mostly centred around his adopted home town of Bromsgrove, Worcestershire.
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