James Whitbourn is a GRAMMY^®-nominated composer. Born in England, he graduated in music from Magdalen College, Oxford where his teachers included Bojan Bujic, John Harper and Robert Sherlaw Johnson. His career began at the BBC, for whom he has worked as composer, conductor, producer and presenter. Influenced by his interaction with broadcast audiences, his subsequent compositional output is admired for its direct connection with performers and audiences worldwide and for its ability to ‘expand the experience of classical music beyond the edges of the traditional map of classical styles’ (Tom Manoff, NPR). The Observer has described him as ‘a truly original communicator in modern British choral music’. His largest composition to date is the choral work Annelies (Naxos 8.573070), which sets words from The Diary of Anne Frank. Other notable works include Luminosity (8.572103), written for Williamson Voices with the Archedream dance ensemble, Son of God Mass and Requiem canticorum (8.572737), both for soprano saxophone, choir and organ and The Seven Heavens, a large-scale work for choir and orchestra portraying the life of C.S. Lewis in the imagery of the seven medieval planets. In 2012, James Whitbourn was elected to an Honorary Research Fellowship at St Stephen’s House, Oxford and is a member of the Faculty of Music of the University of Oxford.