The War Requiem, Op. 66, is a choral and orchestral composition by Benjamin Britten, composed mostly in 1961 and completed in January 1962. The War Requiem was performed for the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral, in the English county of Warwickshire, which was built after the original fourteenth-century structure was destroyed in a World War II bombing raid. The traditional Latin texts are interspersed, in telling juxtaposition, with extra-liturgical poems by Wilfred Owen, written during World War I.
The 6th Annual Grammy Awards were held on May 12, 1964, at Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. They recognized accomplishments by musicians for the year 1963. Henry Mancini won 4 awards.
Sir Charles Barnard Groves CBE was an English conductor. He was known for the breadth of his repertoire and for encouraging contemporary composers and young conductors.
Robert Chilcott is a British choral composer, conductor, and singer, based in Oxfordshire, England. He was a member of the King's Singers from 1985 to 1997, singing tenor. He has been a composer since 1997.
Mark Padmore is a British tenor appearing in concerts, recitals, and opera.
The Leeds Festival Chorus is based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has 160 singing members in soprano, alto, tenor and bass sections. Presenting classical choral music of a professional standard in Yorkshire and elsewhere, including at the BBC Proms and abroad - for example in Venice. The Chorus is broadcast regularly on BBC Radio 3.
Simon Halsey, CBE is an English choral conductor. He is the chorus director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, a position he has held since 1983, and has been chorus director of the London Symphony Chorus since 2012. He is also artistic director of the Berlin Philharmonic Youth Choral Programme and the director of the BBC Proms Youth Choir, and conductor laureate of the Berlin Radio Choir. He is professor and director of choral activities at the University of Birmingham.
Robin Blaze is a British countertenor.
Anthony Rolfe Johnson was an English operatic tenor.
(Albert) Meredith Davies CBE was a British conductor, renowned for his advocacy of English music by composers such as Benjamin Britten, Frederick Delius and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
The Dessoff Choirs is an independent chorus based in New York City. Margarete Dessoff established the organization in 1930 as the union of two choirs she directed, the Adesdi chorus and the A Cappella Singers, whence the plural Choirs. Today, the plural connotes Dessoff's various ensembles, which range from the large Dessoff Symphonic Choir, which appears with major orchestras, to the Dessoff Chamber Choir, which performs in more intimate settings.
The London Philharmonic Choir (LPC) is one of the leading independent British choirs in the United Kingdom based in London. The patron is Princess Alexandra, The Hon Lady Ogilvy and Sir Mark Elder is president. The choir, comprising more than 200 members, holds charitable status and is governed by a committee of 6 elected directors. As a charity, its aims are to promote, improve, develop and maintain education in the appreciation of the art and science of music by the presentation of public concerts.
Peter Butterfield is a Canadian conductor and classical tenor. In 2003 he founded the VancouverVoices and since 2009 he has been the director of the Victoria Philharmonic Choir. As a singer he has performed throughout Europe, Asia, and North America; working primarily as a concert singer since the early 1980s. He has also appeared on radio and television programs in Canada, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Roderick Gregory Coleman Williams OBE is a British baritone and composer.
Oxford Harmonic Choir is a large, mixed-voice amateur choir based in Oxford, England. It is the second-oldest non-collegiate choir in Oxford, having been founded in 1921, and according to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians is one of the "institutions of lasting significance to Oxford's musical life that were established during this period". Currently the choir has around 150 singing members and usually performs three concerts annually in either the Sheldonian Theatre or Oxford Town Hall with the Orchestra of Stowe Opera.
Adrian Frederick Partington is an English conductor, chorus master, organist and pianist. He is director of music at Gloucester Cathedral, joint conductor of the Three Choirs Festival and artistic director for the Gloucester festival years, director of the BBC National Chorus of Wales, conductor of Gloucester Choral Society, and former conductor of Bristol Choral Society and leader of the postgraduate choral conducting course at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.
Ben Parry is a British musician, composer, conductor, singer, arranger and producer. He is the director of London Voices and was formerly artistic director of the National Youth Choir.
Brighton Festival Chorus is a large choir of over 150 amateur singers based in Brighton, UK. One of the country's leading symphony choruses.., and considered "one of the jewels in the city's musical crown", BFC performs in major concert halls throughout Britain and Europe, particularly in Brighton and London.
Trevor Harvey (1911—1989) was an English conductor.
László Istvan Heltay was a Hungarian-born British conductor and choral director. Heltay is best known for contributing to the establishment of the Brighton Festival Chorus, the Chorus of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the Schola Cantorum of Oxford. He was described as:
