There’s no doubt that British composer Grayston (Bill) Ives (*1948) has, in various ways, dedicated his career to choral music. A tenor with the legendary King’s Singers, he later worked for 18 years as organist, choirmaster and lecturer at Oxford’s prestigious Magdalen College. This Requiem, which Ives wrote to celebrate the college’s 550th anniversary, is suitable for both sacred and secular performance. Ives’ style is tonal, uncluttered and nonetheless colorful; even, at times, surprising, e.g. in the use of Tibetan hand-held cymbals.
“As a former King’s Singer, ‘Bill’ Ives, steeped in the Anglican choral tradition, writes magnificently .... His word-painting skills draw out every dramatic impulse”, stated the British music magazine Gramophone in 2021 on the occasion of the first recording of this Requiem setting.
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Composer
Grayston (Bill) Ives
| 1948Grayston (Bill) Ives has spent his life in choral music – as a singer, conductor, teacher and composer (writing as Grayston Ives).
He was a chorister at Ely Cathedral and later studied music at Cambridge, taking composition lessons with Richard Rodney Bennett.
After Cambridge he sang in Guildford Cathedral Choir before joining the King’s Singers, with whom he recorded and performed worldwide.
For eighteen years he directed the Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford. During his tenure the choir earned a Grammy nomination for a disc of music by Orlando Gibbons, and gave the première of Paul McCartney’s Ecce Cor Meum, which was written especially for them.
He has a special interest in composing and arranging. Many of his published works, both sacred and secular, are performed regularly in the UK and abroad.
In 2008 his work as a composer and conductor of church music was recognised with the award of a Lambeth DMus and a Fellowship of the Royal School of Church Music.
We asked the composer 6 questions, read them here in our blog: https://blog.carus-verlag.com/en/personalities/6-questions-for-bill-ives/
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Das … Werk eignet sich sowohl für die Aufführung im Rahmen der Liturgie als auch im Konzert.
Gustav Danzinger, Chor aktuell, 12/2025
Gustav Danzinger, Chor aktuell, 12/2025
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