OBIT: Famed choral musician Sir David Wilcocks dies at age 95

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Los Angeles Newspaper Group

Although none of our local media (nor even national media) have paid much notice, Sir David Wilcocks died Thursday at the age of 95. Unless you’re a choral musician, the name might not mean anything, although it’s quite likely that some of the carols you have sung in Christmas Eve service were arranged by this remarkable English conductor-composer-arranger, etc. Christmas Eve for me doesn’t really start until we have sung O Come, All Ye Faithful in the Wilcocks arrangement.

Wilcocks also edited, with composer John Rutter, a series of carol books that are widely used by choral groups both in churches and secular settings. Moreover, as the obit in the Manchester Guardian HERE shows, he was a prolific musician in many areas and even won a Military Cross during World War II.
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(c) Copyright 2015, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

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