Ian Kellam

NOTOC Ian Kellam (1933 – 24 November 2014) was a British composer of church music and theatre music. Kellam was born in Sheffield and was a chorister at Sheffield Cathedral under Reginald Tustin Baker, organist. He went on to study with Herbert Sumsion at Gloucester Cathedral, and then with Howard Ferguson at the Royal Academy of Music. He taught privately, and at the London College of Music, where his students included Roger Marsh. He composed a series of nine choral orchestral cantatas (the last in 2001), many smaller choral works for the church, and settings of the morning and evening canticles. Eighteen of his hymn tunes were collected in the volume Sing Praise to God (2005). Kellam wrote theatre music for the Royal Shakespeare Company, for the Chichester Festival and for Joan Littlewood. His music was used in productions staged in Moscow, Paris and New York. The Young Visitors, a musical based on the book by Daisy Ashford with a book by Michael Ashton and music by Kellam, was produced in 1968 at the Piccadilly Theatre, where it ran for 68 performances. There were also stage works for children, including The Journey, with a libretto by David Gribble. Balaam, for children’s