Bach Choir to premier Sir David Willcocks Carol Competition winners

The three winning entries from the Sir David Willcocks Carol Competition will be premiered by The Bach Choir during their Carols at Cadogan concert in December. The new carols, written by Thomas Neal, Fernando Taberner and Christopher Churcher, were chosen from 139 entries by Bach choir director David Hill MBE, John Rutter CBE and Jonathan Willcocks.

Sir David Willcocks was musical director of The Bach Choir from 1960 to 1998. First held in 2017, the competition invites composers of all ages to contribute to the Christmas carolling tradition.

The Bach Choir’s current director David Hill said: ‘The Sir David Willcocks Carol Competition is […] part of our mission to grow the choral repertoire. Carols are a vitally important part of choral singing, so it was hugely encouraging to receive 139 new carols from all around the world in this year's competition.’

The exceptionally high standard of this year's entries led to the announcement of two joint First Prize winners in the '19 and Over' category, to both Thomas Neal and Fernando Taberner. Out Of Your Sleep Arise, by Thomas Neal, Director of Music at New College School, Oxford, takes inspiration from Neal's interest in pre-Reformation England, as well as the carols of William Walton.

Fernando Taberner, who also wins First prize, is a pianist based at the Joaquín Rodrigo Conservatory of Music in Valencia. His winning carol, Villancico Xicarrero, was conceived during the pandemic, and takes inspiration from his daughters.

First Prize winner in the '18 and Under' category is seventeen-year-old Christopher Churcher. A recent winner of the Benslow Young Composers' Competition, the Birmingham-based composer’s winning entry, Before the ice is in the pools, is an a capella setting of Emily Dickinson's Christmas poem, which delivers a message of hope and comfort.

The three carols are among eleven new contemporary choral works written for The Bach Choir over its 2021/22 season. They will be performed at The Bach Choir’s Carols at Cadogan concert (20 December 2021). You can find more information about this concert and about The Bach Choir at their website.