Lighten our Darkness

Dr James Whitbourn graduated from Magdalen College, Oxford, before embarking on a distinguished career as composer, conductor, producer and academic. He began his career in music at the BBC, from 1990 to 2001 he served as Editor of BBC Radio 3's weekly Choral Evensong series and he produced the BBC broadcasts of Carols from King's for more than thirty years. A member of Oxford University's Faculty of Music, Whitbourn was Fellow and Director of Music at St Edmund Hall, Senior Research Fellow at St Stephen's House, and Director of Music at Harris Manchester College. Whitbourn joined Oxford University Press as an exclusive house composer in 2019. His substantial catalogue has a focus on choral writing and is popular on both sides of the Atlantic - particularly his concert-length portrait of Anne Frank, Annelies; and the multi-media choral work Luminosity. Whitbourn's work has been recognised internationally, receiving four GRAMMY nominations. He died in March 2024.