Arthur Wills

Dr Arthur Wills was Director of Music at Ely Cathedral from 1958 to 1990, and also held a Professorship at the Royal Academy of Music in London from 1964 until 1992. He has toured extensively as a recitalist in Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong, and has broadcast, appeared on TV and made many recordings, both as a soloist and with the Ely Choir.

His secular music includes seven song cycles, and an opera Winston and Julia, based on the Orwell novel. He has composed prolifically for the organ, and his ensemble works include a Concerto with Strings and Timpani, a Concerto for Guitar and Organ, and a Symphonic Suite: The Fenlands for Brass Band and Organ. His Choral Concerto The Gods of Music for Organ, Chorus, and Brass and Percussion Ensemble was commissioned for the Biannual Keyboard Festival of the University of Newcastle, NSW Australia in 1992. His book “Organ” appeared in the Menuhin Music Guide Series in 1984, with a second edition in 1993 and a third reprint in 1997. Novello have recently published his transcription for organ of three movements from Holst’s Planets Suite - Mars, Venus and Jupiter.

Robert Crowley

Robert Crowley studied with Dr Wills at the RAM and has recorded this second CD of Dr Wills’ organ music on the recently rebuilt organ of Ely Cathedral.