Education
Willcock studied music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (graduated 1974) and was ordained to the Priesthood in 1977.
Willcock studied music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (graduated 1974) and was ordained to the Priesthood in 1977.
He then pursued doctoral studies in sacramental and liturgical theology at the Institut Catholique de Paris. The carols are composed for 4-part adult voices, or 3-part children"s voices and are accompanied by harp - reminiscent of Benjamin Britten"s A Ceremony of Carols. Other major works have been performed in recent years by the Tallis Scholars (May 2000) and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (December 1998).
He also gave the annual Slattery Lecture for the School of Philosophy and Theology at the University of Notre Dame Australia.
The Melbourne Chorale also performed his John Shaw Neilson Triptych in late July 2004. Akhmatova Requiem for soprano solo, strings and percussion is a poem cycle by the great 20th-century Russian poet, Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966),
Etiquette with Angels
Gospel Bestiary.
Commissioned for the Tallis Scholars, this is a poem by Andrew Bullen Statens Järnvägar set to music by Willcock. Miserere; a setting of the Latin psalm 50
Missa Messina
Songs of Prayer
Psalms for Feasts and Seasons
In the Peace of Christ, a collection of music for the funeral rites.
And
collections published by Oregon Catholic Press: God Here Among Us", In Remembrance of You, Your Kingdom Come, Sing We Now of Christmas, and Psalms for the Journey.
John Shaw Neilson Triptych for a cappella choir
Five Days Old, composed for choir and orchestra
The Frilled Lizard for viola and harp
Gallopping Goliards" composed for solo double bass
Lincolnshire from Little Gidding for choir and organ
Friday 3.30 for choir and string orchestra
Plaint over Dili for oboe and harpsichord
New Song in an Ancient Land.
In 1998 he won the Albert H. Maggs Composition Award. Collaborating with author and cartoonist Michael Leunig, Willcock won the 2006 Classical Music Award for Choral or Vocal Work of the Year with Excerpts from his work titled Southern Star (his cycle of nine Christmas carols composed in collaboration with Michael Leunig).