John Kilpatrick

I was born in Oxford in 1941, and at the age of seven was given a place in Christ Church Cathedral Choir under Thomas Armstrong (the family had moved to West Cumberland, so I was a boarder from that young age). There I sang treble for six years; and I have sung ever since, first bass and then tenor, though never with as good a voice as I had as a treble. I have been a member of the Sheffield Bach Choir for over thirty years, and of the Sheffield Motet Singers (now closed), the Danensian Choir and the Sheffield Lydian Singers for shorter times. At school I played any wind instrument I could get my hands on, especially the clarinet, which I have taken up again in retirement (together with its father the bass clarinet, and its granddad, the contrabass clarinet), greatly enjoying playing in two local concert bands. Another musical interest has been harpsichord making, and I have completed over a dozen instruments from kits, and one clavichord of my own design.

As a child I was a great fan of Edward Lear, and also of the Boston-born Gelett Burgess (hardly known in Britain). When I decided, at some 55 years old, to have a go at composing, I first set some Burgess to music, and then some Lear; and later looked further afield. My music is freely available on this website, and accessible through the Choral Public Domain Library. Because of the latter I get a a lot of website hits, and once in a while I find my pieces being performed in unexpected places such as East Java or Ealing. In early 2008 the Vocaal Ensemble Kalliope really brought some of my music to life in Ghent. No-one has yet emailed me to tell me my music is rubbish (feel free to do so!), though I have had more than a few coded messages about it being too difficult.

So far my compositions have been for mixed choir, with or without piano (or organ, for sacred music), or for choir with wind quintet, and sometimes a speaker (narrator). Perhaps I'll have a go at contrabass clarinet and piano, sometime.

I am not a professional musician (I think, on balance, that I prefer being one who has to move the chairs and put out the stands, rather than one who can't sink to such depths). My career (if it can be so described) was in industry - first in steel, then at Carbolite: an enjoyable company for a co-operative rebel and technical jack-of-all-trades to work for, if ever there was one. As for spare time, I enjoy gardening; the bamboo behind me in the picture flowered at the end of 2006, and is still struggling to come to life again.

My wife is also a singer, and our son a good pianist; we live in Sheffield. I've two older sons - both musical - from my first marriage, one of whom is an expert in Duke Ellington's music and publisher of scores of some of Ellington's least known works, many not performed (until now) since the 1930s.

And what do I really look like?
Well, here's a picture of me at the Venice Carnival.
The "Casanova" outfit didn't get me anywhere, though!