Will Sims
Composer / Performer
Will Sims is the Director of Chapel Music at Robinson College, Cambridge, where he directs the Chapel Choir for their weekly service schedule and busy concert, tour, and recording calendar. He also supervises undergraduate students in the Faculty of Music. In this role, he has conducted the Choir’s first commercial recording, “To the End of the Age” (Prima Facie, 2024); toured to Europe, including broadcasting a concert from the Duomo di Milano; and premiered ten new compositions, eight of which were written for the Choir. Between 2018-2021, he was the Director of Music at University College, Durham, where he conducted and managed the Castle’s Chapel Choir. In 2020, he directed the Choir’s first recording on the Priory Records label, “In Memoriam” (featuring Durufle’s Requiem and Parry’s Songs of Farewell), to acclaim; movements from the recording are regularly broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s “Essential Classics” programme. He is a prize-winning Choral Director of the Royal College of Organists.
Will is an experienced singer and has sung in the Cathedral Choirs of Ely, Edinburgh, Lincoln, and Peterborough. He has recorded for Delphian Records and broadcast across BBC Radio and Television. He is in demand as a collaborative pianist, specialising in English Song; he has given recitals across the UK, including in the Edinburgh Festival of the Sacred Arts, and in 2025-26 will make his first recordings with Prima Facie. His compositions have been performed in Cathedrals around the country, broadcast live internationally, and premiered at The London Festival of Contemporary Church Music.
Will is a PhD Student in Musicology and Composition and the University of Aberdeen, studying under Professor Phillip Cooke. He completed his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees at Durham University, specialising in the construction, context, and performance of 19th and 20th century British music, and was awarded a First-Class for his dissertation exploring the theology of Herbert Howells’ Hymnus Paradisi under Professor Jeremy Dibble.
Biographical Details
- Year of birth: 1998
- Director of The Chapel Choir of Robinson College, Cambridge
Works by Will Sims
- Choral Amen
- Christ is risen from the dead
- God be in my head
- Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis after Herbert Howells
- Missa Festiva
- Psallite Domino
- Watch, O Lord
Festival performances of works by Will Sims
Call for Scores submissionWorld premiereLondon premiere
LFCCM 2025
- Morning Worship on Sunday 11 May 2025 at Methodist Central Hall
- Choral Evening Service on Sunday 18 May 2025 at Robinson College, Cambridge
LFCCM 2024
- Choral Evensong on Sunday 12 May 2024 at St Mary Magdalene, Richmond
- Choral Compline on Tuesday 14 May 2024 at Robinson College, Cambridge
- “The Hunt of the Unicorn” on Saturday 18 May 2024 at St George’s Bloomsbury
LFCCM 2023
- Choral Eucharist on Wednesday 17 May 2023 at St Pancras Parish Church
- LFCCM @ Home Choral Evensong on Wednesday 17 May 2023 (online stream/broadcast)
- Solemn Mass on Sunday 21 May 2023 at St Mary of the Angels, Bayswater
- Choral Evening Service on Sunday 21 May 2023 at Robinson College, Cambridge
- Choral Evensong on Sunday 11 June 2023 at Hampstead Parish Church
LFCCM 2022
- Choral Evensong on Sunday 8 May 2022 at St Pancras Parish Church
Works performed by Will Sims
Call for Scores submissionWorld premiereLondon premiere
- A New Song James MacMillan
- All shall be well Eleanor Haward
- And it shall come to pass Simon Brown
- Be Still Mary Offer
- Behold, O God our defender John Scott
- Behold, now, praise the Lord Elliott Park
- Choral Amen Will Sims
- Come, Holy Ghost Maddie Melville-Smith
- Evening Service in D George Dyson
- I got me flowers Jeremy Thurlow
- Lift up your heads Elliott Park
- Love on My Heart Ben Ponniah
- O Lord, support us Ben Ponniah
- Preces and Responses Bernard Rose
- Psallite Domino Will Sims
- The Call Gail Randall
- The World on Fire Phillip Cooke
- The earth was without form Marisse Cato
- Unto the Father Sarah Cattley
- Watch, O Lord Will Sims
Festival performances by Will Sims
Call for Scores submissionWorld premiereLondon premiere
LFCCM 2025
- Choral Evening Service on Sunday 11 May 2025 at Robinson College, Cambridge
- Choral Compline on Tuesday 13 May 2025 at Robinson College, Cambridge
- Choral Evening Service on Sunday 18 May 2025 at Robinson College, Cambridge
LFCCM 2024
- Choral Evening Service on Sunday 12 May 2024 at Robinson College, Cambridge
- Choral Compline on Tuesday 14 May 2024 at Robinson College, Cambridge
- Choral Evening Service on Sunday 19 May 2024 at Robinson College, Cambridge
LFCCM 2023
- Choral Evening Service on Sunday 14 May 2023 at Robinson College, Cambridge
- Choral Evensong on Tuesday 16 May 2023 at Robinson College, Cambridge
- Choral Evening Service on Sunday 21 May 2023 at Robinson College, Cambridge
Recorded performances of works by Will Sims
LFCCM 2024
- Psallite Domino performed by The LFCCM Festival Singers / Emily Wenman Soprano / Alastair Carey Conductor
LFCCM 2022
- Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis after Herbert Howells performed by The Choir of St Pancras Parish Church / Christopher Batchelor Conductor / Paul Plummer Organ
