Diamond Jubilee Anthem

Bristol Graduate’s anthem sparkles at Diamond Jubilee

[Posted on 11 June 2012]

Will Todd, who graduated with a BA and an MMus from Bristol’s Music Department in 1994, was commissioned to write the anthem The Call of Wisdom, performed at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Thanksgiving Service in St Paul’s Cathedral on 5 June.  The anthem was sung by children from all over the UK as part of the Diamond Choir Project. Alongside the choristers of St Paul's and the Chapel Royal there were 40 singers drawn from all over the UK in a nationwide competition.

Will has made a very successful career as a composer and pianist. He has worked at the Royal Opera House, The Lincoln Center in New York, London's Barbican and with award-winning choirs The Sixteen, BBC Singers and Welsh National Opera. His work has been performed all over the UK and at the Edinburgh Festival and New York Music Theatre Festival, as well as frequently broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and 4.

Best known for his choral works, Will's jazz-inspired Mass in Blue has been performed almost 100 times since its 2003 premiere. He won second prize in the International Giuseppe Verdi Opera Competition 2002, and his 2009 Jazz Concerto for Clarinet, written for clarinettist Emma Johnson, has already been performed in the UK, USA and Finland.