Stephen Wilkinson

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Born in Eversden Rectory, Cambridgeshire, on 29 April 1919, he was a chorister at Christ Church, Oxford, under Sir William Henry Harris and then went on to St. Edward's, Oxford, having whilst there a few composition lessons with Sir Thomas Armstrong. He went up to Queens' College, Cambridge as Organ Scholar in 1937 and was active as a pianist at the University Music Club, of which he was secretary in his third year. He also refounded the Echo Club for aspiring student composers. His tutors were Edward Dent, Cyril Rootham, Hubert Middleton, Henry Moule, Philip Radcliffe, Boris Ord, and Patrick Hadley.

He served in the Royal Navy{{Cite web|url=https://www.unithistories.com/officers/RNVR_officersW3.html|title=Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) Officers 1939-1945|website=Unithistories.com|access-date=11 August 2020}} during the Second World War, first on Atlantic convoys, then for two years as mine disposal officer in the Faroe Islands. He was then on the staff of the enemy mining section of {{Ship|HMS|Vernon|wl=no}} until, following an accident in 1944, he was invalided out and returned to Cambridge to complete his degree in music in 1946. He was mentioned in dispatches "for courage and undaunted devotion to duty" in August 1944.{{Cite web|url=http://www.mcdoa.org.uk/News_Archive_30.htm|title=News Archive 30|website=Mcdoa.org.uk|access-date=11 August 2020}}

From 1947 to 1953, Wilkinson was director of the Hertfordshire Rural Music School at Hitchin, conducting the Hertford Choir, who celebrated the Festival of Britain by commissioning "Cutty Sark" for voices and strings from the young Antony Hopkins. He had always retained a keen interest in working with amateurs. While in Hitchin he also studied singing with George Parker.

From 1953 to 1979, he was on the music staff of the BBC,{{cite book|title=Oxford Dictionary of Music|edition=2nd, revised|date=24 November 1994|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-869162-4}} first in Leeds, then from 1961 in Manchester. He first worked with the BBC Northern Singers in 1954 and between then and 1993, by which time they had "gone private" as the Britten Singers, he achieved a notable succès d'estime with them. They appeared at the major festivals: frequently at Aldeburgh, Bath, Cheltenham, Edinburgh and several times at The Proms, where Edward Greenfield described them as "a choir to equal, or even outshine, any in this country" (The Guardian).{{cite quote|date=August 2021}} They also travelled widely abroad, to Ireland, Belgium, France, Poland, Spain, Turkey, Thailand, Australia and Hong Kong.

Wilkinson had always been a great champion of new music, commissioning many works and giving many "Proms Premières"{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/archive/search/performers/9979250a-f23a-4474-9101-82cf8f26a1fb/1|title=Proms Archive|website=BBC|access-date=11 August 2020|archive-date=20 April 2014|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140420210001/http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/archive/search/performers/9979250a-f23a-4474-9101-82cf8f26a1fb/1|url-status=dead}} and other first performances with the BBC Northern Singers. The first of these commissions was a work by Wilfrid Mellers; among his successors are Richard Rodney Bennett,{{Cite web|url=https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/work/11798/Calico-Pie--Richard-Rodney-Bennett/|title=Calico Pie | Richard Rodney Bennett|website=Wisemusicclassical.com|access-date=11 August 2020}} Michael Ball, Judith Bingham, Stephen Dodgson, Geoffrey Burgon, Peter Dickinson, John Gardner, Kenneth Leighton, John McCabe, Elizabeth Maconchy, Nicholas Maw, Alan Bullard, Robin Orr and William Walton (Cantico del Sole{{Cite web|url=http://www.corkcitylibraries.ie/music/corkinternationalchoralfestival/1974/1974cicfseminarbrochure/1974%20CICF%20Seminar%20brochure.pdf|title=Cork City Libraries|website=Corkcitylibraries.ie|access-date=11 August 2020}}). They gave the first concert performance of Gustav Holst's Nunc Dimittis,{{Cite web|url=https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W19_GBAJY8932917&vw=dc|title=Nunc dimittis, H127 (Holst) – from CDH55170 – MP3 and Lossless downloads|publisher=Hyperion Records|access-date=11 August 2020}} now a staple of the repertoire. They recorded widely;{{Cite web|url=https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/a.asp?a=A1912|title=BBC Northern Singers on Hyperion Records|website=Hyperion-records.co.uk|access-date=11 August 2020}} their disc Spring Song was listed as Critic's Choice in The Gramophone. Warm reviews followed: "In the field of choral music, Stephen Wilkinson is a genius" (The Yorkshire Post);{{cite quote|date=August 2021}} "Simply a great choral conductor" (South China Morning Post);{{cite quote|date=August 2021}} "No praise could overstate the merits of Stephen Wilkinson's direction" (The Guardian).{{cite quote|date=August 2021}}

Wilkinson also performed with other professional choirs – the BBC Singers in London, the RTÉ Singers in Dublin and the Nederlands Kamerkoor. However, he remained active in amateur music as well, directing for many years the choral course of the Ernest Read Music Association, now closed down but happily taken over by Canford; also those of the Benslow Music Trust, Manchester and Bristol Universities, and 'Chorale' in Chester. For ten years he conducted yearly week-long choral courses in Italy, based around the Preggio Music Festival. He also established a series of singing days, workshops and study days in Manchester.

His principal work in this field was undoubtedly as conductor for nearly forty years{{cite book|last=Flinn|first=Mark|title=Sing Joyfully: The William Byrd Singers at Fifty|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MDGSzQEACAAJ|access-date=8 August 2022|date=10 May 2020|publisher=Independently published|isbn=979-8638626747|page=11}}{{cite web |url=https://www.williambyrdsingers.org.uk/Stephen-Wilkinson/ |title=Stephen Wilkinson MBE |website=William Byrd Singers: Stephen Wilkinson |access-date=8 August 2022 |quote=... Stephen Wilkinson MBE (Music Director 1970-2009)[...]the Byrds, whom he conducted from the choir's foundation until 2009 ...'}} of the William Byrd Singers of Manchester,{{Cite web|url=https://www.williambyrdsingers.org.uk/Stephen-Wilkinson/|title=William Byrd Singers: Stephen Wilkinson|website=www.williambyrdsingers.org.uk|access-date=8 August 2022}} becoming a much-admired figure on the Manchester music scene (described by Robert Beale of the Manchester Evening News{{Cite web|url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/authors/Robert-Beale/|title=Robert Beale – MEN Online|work=Manchester Evening News|access-date=11 August 2020}}{{Nonspecific|date=August 2021}} as "one of the most extraordinary men I have ever met"{{Cite web|url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120729082332/http://www.citylife.co.uk/news_and_reviews/news/13418_extraordinary_stephen_s_going_out_on_a_high|url-status=dead|title=What's on in Manchester and Greater Manchester including Bolton, Bury, Heywood, Middleton, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan|work=Manchester Evening News|archivedate=29 July 2012|access-date=11 August 2020}}). Under his direction they also gained a string of commissions, foreign tours and festival appearances to their credit. Wilkinson retired as conductor of the William Byrd Singers in May 2009 at the age of 90.

In 1991, observing that there was no training orchestra in the Manchester area, Wilkinson founded a companion young string ensemble, Capriccio, as a springboard for the National Youth Orchestra. Choir and strings recorded two CDs together. Some of the group's many alumni now leading national/international careers are: Jonathan Cohen, described as "one of Britain's finest young musicians"{{Cite web|url=https://www.askonasholt.com/artists/jonathan-cohen/|title=Jonathan Cohen|website=Askonasholt.com|access-date=11 August 2020}} (Associate Conductor, Les Arts Florissants), Steven Wilkie (adjudicator, Young Musician of the Year{{Cite web|url=https://www.rncm.ac.uk/people/steven-wilkie/|title=Steven Wilkie|publisher=Royal Northern College of Music|access-date=11 August 2020}}), Clare Duckworth (RPO), Jonathan Martindale (Manchester Camerata), David Adams (leader, WNO orchestra).

Continuing his support of new music, Wilkinson ran two composers' competitions, and godfathered{{clarify|date=August 2021|reason=What does that mean?}} Earth, Sweet Earth by the Bristol composer Alan Charlton{{Cite web|url=http://alancharlton.com/biography.htm|title=Alan Charlton, Composer – Biography|website=Alancharlton.com|access-date=11 August 2020}} and Three Poems of Edith Sitwell by Graham Redwood.{{Cite web|url=http://www.soundandmusic.org/thecollection/node/59403|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20140422001216/http://www.soundandmusic.org/thecollection/node/59403|url-status=dead|title=Three Poems of Edith Sitwell – SAM: The Collection|website=Archive.today|archivedate=22 April 2014|access-date=22 April 2014}}

File:Stephen Wilkinson, MBE.jpg

Following his retirement from conducting, Wilkinson was increasingly active as a composer. A CD of a selection of his choral music entitled Dover Beach{{Cite web|url=http://www.deux-elles.co.uk/DXL_1148.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305013627/http://www.deux-elles.co.uk/DXL_1148.html|url-status=dead|title=Deux-Elles|archivedate=5 March 2012|access-date=11 August 2020}} was released in 2012 on the label Deux-Elles. A Phoenix Hour, settings of Irish poets, was premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival by the BBC Northern Singers. The Manchester Chamber Choir commissioned two pieces entitled Fanfare and Envoi, now augmented by a setting of Bertolt Brecht to create the tripartite set The singing will never be done; Tarira, a Faroese choir, two Tempest settings. Juno's Song and Summer Floods were written for I Fagiolini. Many solo songs of widely varying character have also appeared from the 1930s to the present day. At the Manger and The Garden, for voice and viols, were written for his daughter, mezzo-soprano Clare Wilkinson,{{Cite web|url=http://www.clare-wilkinson.com/|title=News | Clare Wilkinson|website=Clare-wilkinson.com|access-date=11 August 2020}}{{failed verification|date=August 2021|reason=No mention of those works there.}} and Fretwork, and feature on their disk The Silken Tent.{{Cite web|url=http://www.fretwork.co.uk/portfolio/the-silken-tent-with-clare-wilkinson/|title=Fretwork Discography – The Silken Tent|website=Fretwork.co.uk|access-date=11 August 2020}} Several volumes of solo songs and choral music are in print: choral collections The Other Carol Book and Grass Roots (folk song arrangements), and two solo song collections The Sunlight on the Garden and Eternal Summer are available from Forsyth of Manchester.{{Cite web|url=https://www.forsyths.co.uk/search?controller=search&orderby=position&orderway=desc&search_query=fws1&submit_search=|title=Search – Forsyths Music Shop|website=Forsyths.co.uk|access-date=11 August 2020}} Choral works Rorate Coeli (Eboracum Choral Series{{Cite web|url=https://www.musicroom.com/product/banecs459/stephen-wilkinson-rorate-coeli-satb.aspx|title=Stephen Wilkinson: Rorate Coeli: SATB|website=Musicroom.com|access-date=11 August 2020}}) and The Singing World, both for SATB, are published as separate scores, available from Banks of York.

Manchester University gave him an honorary MA in 1982 and he was awarded an MBE for services to choral music in the 1992 New Year Honours.{{Cite web|url=http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/52767/supplements/16|title=London Gazette 52767 Supplement 16|website=London-gazette.co.uk|access-date=11 August 2020|archive-date=15 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140315020208/http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/52767/supplements/16|url-status=dead}}

Wilkinson's 70th birthday was marked by his appearance as "Artist of the Week" on BBC Radio 3; also, choral compositions were written for him in honour of the occasion by Michael Ball, Alan Bullard, Stephen Dodgson, David Gow, John Joubert, John McCabe and Elizabeth Maconchy. His 80th birthday was celebrated with a pair of concerts in Trinity College, Cambridge.

In 1945 Wilkinson married Anna Dam, whom he had met in the Faroe Islands and he learnt Faroese especially for her. They had four children, David, Christina, Bernard and Andrew. Anna died in 1975, and later that year he married Delyth Jones, a therapist and soprano, with whom he had two daughters, Clare and Stella. He lived in Sale, Cheshire for over 50 years until his death. Of his six children, four of them followed him into the music profession.

He died on 10 August 2021, aged 102.{{cite news |last= Millington |first= Barry |date= 16 August 2021 |title= Stephen Wilkinson obituary |url= https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/aug/16/stephen-wilkinson-obituary |work= The Guardian |access-date= 23 August 2021}}

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