Richard Wilberforce read Music at Cambridge where he studied under Robin Holloway. Here he wrote his ballet, Ashypet, as well as a number of works for The Choir of St John's College, where he was also a choral scholar. These include an anthem commissioned for the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade, He hath shewed thee; a christmas carol, Telling God's Story, broadcast on BBC Radio 3; Noel Nouvelet, recorded for CD; as well as a setting of O Nata Lux and the Preces and Responses. More recently, The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, commissioned by Choir & Organ magazine, received its premiere in May 2010, and was broadcast online.
Richard - also a countertenor - is active as a soloist on both the opera and concert stages. He has recently sung both the St John Passion and Dixit Dominus at St John's, Smith Square, Dove’s The Far Theatricals of Day at the Cambridge Music Festival, and Paul Patterson’s The Fifth Continent with the John Armitage Memorial Trust. Recent roles include Dido and Aeneas (1st Witch/Spirit) in Pavia, Ariodante (Polinesso Understudy) with English Touring Opera, and Venus and Adonis (Huntsman/Shepherd) with Transition Opera under Christian Curnyn. This summer, Richard performed Gluck's Alceste at the Festival D'Aix en Provence under Ivor Bolton, and in 2011 he will perform Handel's Belshazzar (Wise Man et al.) in Toulouse, under René Jacobs.
Richard Hills. In 1994, Richard was awarded the Organ Scholarship at King’s School in Rochester, England and studied the classical organ at the Cathedral there with William Whitehead. Following this, Richard became the Organ Scholar of Exeter College at Oxford University where he studied the classical organ with David Sanger.
Having completed his studies at Oxford, Richard spent a year as the Organ Scholar of Portsmouth Cathedral before being appointed to the Organ Scholarship of London’s Westminster Abbey, where he performed regularly on the five-manual Harrison & Harrison organ and worked with the world-famous Abbey choir.
Richard left Westminster in September 2004 and now pursues a career as a freelance musician and musical arranger. In addition to his theatre and classical organ performances, he is currently Assistant Organist at St Mary's, Bourne Street; a central London church renowned for its Anglo-Catholic Liturgy, London. Richard is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists.