Cambridge composer nominated for Ivor Novello Award for Stephen Hawking composition

A piece of music composed about the life and work of Prof Stephen Hawking by a former University of Cambridge student has been shortlisted for an Ivor Novello award.

William Marsey has been nominated for his chamber ensemble composition Why Do You Grieve, which was commissioned by conductor Oliver Zeffman for a concert at the Science Museum about Stephen Hawking.

It is one of 36 works in the running for an Ivor Novello Award across eight categories and the winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on November 14 from BFI Southbank, which will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s New Music Show.

William, 34, who read music at Clare College and was a choral scholar, said: “When I was commissioned to write this piece, I read more about the Hawking Radiation Theory and used that as well as my lifelong love of Bach as the starting point for my composition.

“I imagined the Bach that is recorded on the famous golden disc which is flying out into space on Voyager and I thought about how it would eventually get sucked into a black hole, because everything does.”