Described by The Observer as “a contemporary hero of British Choral Music”, Bob Chilcott has worked tirelessly over the past fourteen years as a full-time composer and choral conductor. He has over 125 pieces in the Oxford University Press catalogue, and versions of several of his pieces are published in German, Swedish, Norwegian, Slovenian, Icelandic, and Japanese, ensuring that his music continues to receive performances around the world.

In May 2009, 600 musicians in Salisbury Cathedral premièred his Salisbury Vespers, and in March 2010 the Requiem was premièred by Nicholas Cleobury, The Oxford Bach Choir, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to great critical acclaim. Another large-scale work, for The Bach Choir and other performers, will be presented for the first time in August 2012. The cantata The Making of the Drum has been performed across the globe, as has A Little Jazz Mass in both mixed and upper-voice versions, and his catalogue of music for upper voices has inspired a large worldwide following.

Since 2002 he has been Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Singers in London. He has also conducted many other distinguished choirs including RIAS Kammerchor in Berlin, the Vancouver Chamber Choir, Jauna Musika in Lithuania, The World Youth Choir, The Tower New Zealand Youth Choir, Taipei Chamber Singers, Wroclaw Philharmonic Choir, and the Kyoto Echo Choir in Japan. He leads singing days for communities and schools in Britain, and since 1997 has conducted and given workshops in 23 countries. In 2011 he was Composer-in-Residence at Festival 500 in Newfoundland, and was invited to workshop at the World Choral Symposium in Patagonia. In July 2013, when Europa Cantat and Sing UK host Britain’s first international youth choir festival, he is both composer and conductor.

He has two critically acclaimed recordings on the Signum label, The Making of the Drum with the BBC Singers and Making Waves with the women’s choir The Sirens. His music has been recorded by many other choirs including King’s College Choir, Cambridge, The Cambridge Singers, The Sixteen, Westminster Abbey Choir, Grex Musicus, and The Chamber Choir of Europe. He wrote the title tracks for the King’s Singers albums, Swimming over London and High Flight, and his Irish Blessing featured on the multi-platinum debut album of The Priests. April 2012 sees the release of the Hyperion CD on which Wells Cathedral Choir and the Nash Ensemble perform Requiem, and The Wellensian Consort and Wroclaw Philharmonic Choir are due to release single-composer discs later in the year. His Requiem, premiered in March 2010, has now been performed in the UK, USA, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, The Netherlands, and Australia.