Sebastian Forbes is a musical composer, conductor, founder of the Aeolian Singers and professor of music at the University of Surrey.
Background
He comes from a musical family (his father being the Scottish violist, Watson Forbes) and he was taught by Martindale Sidwell. After being trained as a singer by Martindale Sidwell and encountering chamber and classical music through his father, Sebastian studied at the Royal Academy of Music and then to Cambridge University, where he sang with the King"s College chapel choir.
Education
Bachelor in Music, Cambridge (England) University, 1963. Bachelor of Music, Cambridge (England) University, 1964. Master of Arts in Music, Cambridge (England) University, 1967.
Doctor of Music, Cambridge (England) University, 1977.
Career
After Cambridge, he founded the Aeolian Singers in 1963. He then became a producer for the British Broadcasting Corporation until moving back to Cambridge in 1968. That year, he lectured at Bangor University and remained there until 1972, when he moved to Surrey.
The University of Surrey had completed its move from the original campus in Battersea in 1970, so the music department was very new.
He has been with the university since then, being made a professor in 1981 and then the Head of the Music Department for the next ten years. In 2006, he was made Professor Emeritus.
Achievements
Membership
Member Composers Guild Great Britain.
Connections
Married 1968 (divorced 1977). Children: Joanna, Emily. Married Tessa Mary Brady, September 24, 1983.