Sir Stephen Cleobury, former director of music at King’s College, Cambridge, died on Friday at the age of 70. Cleobury has been a familiar presence for all of us here on this side of the pond, through his live Christmas Eve broadcasts of “A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols,” for which he directed the Choir of King’s College for the past 37 years.

I hope you’ll join me this afternoon on The Classical Network for some musical remembrances of Cleobury, whose recordings, I imagine, we’ll enjoy with increased frequency, as we once again enter the Christmas season.

I’ll also celebrate pianist Wilhelm Kempff and composers Ilja Hurnik, Ethelbert Nevin, Tibor Serly, Sergei Taneyev, and Virgil Thomson, on this, the anniversary of their births.

Cleobury was interviewed several times over the years on WWFM, most recently on “A Tempo” last December, in advance of the 100th anniversary of the King’s College Christmas Eve service. Cleobury’s conversation with Rachel Katz has been archived at our website. You can hear it right now by following the link.

https://www.wwfm.org/post/tempo-festival-nine-lessons-and-carols-marks-100-years-seasonal-and-musical-inspiration?fbclid=IwAR1JSOZIIWzfrG0M2K0HGWEORRKetkuF3IbqgRXFgBjsf6PyKdXp9FUuEW4#stream/0

Then tune in for more Cleobury and company, from 4 to 7 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.