Grayston Ives

Who is Grayston Ives?

Grayston "Bill" Ives is a British composer, singer and choral director.

Until March 2009, Ives was Organist, Informator Choristarum and Fellow and Tutor in Music at Magdalen College, Oxford. In this role he was responsible for the daily musical life of the college chapel. He also directed the choir in recordings on the Harmonia Mundi label, including With a Merrie Noyse made with the viol consort Fretwork and featuring the works of the English composer Orlando Gibbons, for which the choir were nominated for a Grammy award. The choristers of Magdalen College Choir recorded on Sir Paul McCartney's Ecce cor Meum which won the Classical BRIT Award for Album of the Year. His recordings with Magdalen Choir include a selection of his own liturgical works, Listen Sweet Dove, a disc of Durufle's Requiem and a Christmas CD, Carols By Candlelight.

Ives was a chorister at Ely Cathedral and later studied music at Cambridge University where he held a choral scholarship at Selwyn College. After teaching music for a period, he became a member of the King's Singers, from 1978 to 1985. His voice can be heard on a number of recordings from that period, including Paul McCartney's Frog Chorus. Ives composes as Grayston, but prefers to be known as "Bill", a nickname he acquired at school as a result of a role-playing game with his brother.