Alexander 'Alex' Brett Stobbs (born 30 January 1990), (

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Roc ...

, Kent, England) is a British musician with

cystic fibrosis Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a rare genetic disorder that affects mostly the lungs, but also the pancreas, liver, kidneys, and intestine. Long-term issues include difficulty breathing and coughing up mucus as a result of frequent lung infections. O ...

who was the subject of the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

'' Cutting Edge'' documentary ''A Boy Called Alex'' in 2008 and its sequel, ''Alex: A Passion for Life'' in 2009, also broadcast on Channel 4.

Early life

After an early education as an academic and music scholar at Stoke Brunswick, Stobbs became a chorister at

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

. It was here where he recorded for

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

with King's an album including Bach's ''Magnificat'', which he would later conduct. His earliest inspirations were the works of Walter de la Mare and the British novelist Jo Rowling. Stobbs was then a music scholar at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

, where he conducted

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

Magnificat The Magnificat (Latin for "

y soul Y, or y, is the twenty-fifth and penultimate letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some authorities, it is the sixth (or sevent ...

magnifies

he Lord He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary, the Canticle of Mary and, in the Eastern Christianity, Byzantine tradition, the Ode of the Theotokos (). It is traditionally incorporated ...

in March 2007. He was a

choral scholar A choral scholar is a student either at a university or private school who receives a scholarship in exchange for singing in the school or university's choir. This is a common practice in the UK at schools attached to cathedrals where the choir is ...

, where he studied music. On 5 April 2009 he conducted Bach's

St Matthew Passion The ''St Matthew Passion'' (german: Matthäus-Passion, links=-no), BWV 244, is a '' Passion'', a sacred oratorio written by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1727 for solo voices, double choir and double orchestra, with libretto by Picander. It sets ...

Cadogan Hall Cadogan Hall is a 950-seat capacity concert hall in Sloane Terrace in Chelsea in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England. The resident music ensemble at Cadogan Hall is the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO), the first ...

, London (with Rodolfus Choir and

Southbank Sinfonia Southbank Sinfonia is a British chamber orchestra founded in 2002. Composed of young professionals from around the world, each year it brings together 33 graduate musicians for a programme of performance and professional development. The annual f ...

) in aid of others who suffer from cystic fibrosis. In September 2009, his book ''A Passion for Living'' was published, a diary of his life during his A-levels and his preparation for conducting a performance of Bach's Matthew Passion in April 2009. In July 2018 he won the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

third prize in the Joan Chissell Schumann Prize for Piano His musical accomplishments are in spite of significant hearing loss arising from the medications involved in the treatment of his cystic fibrosis.

Documentaries

The life-affirming story of some of his accomplishments in spite of fearsome challenges was featured in two television documentaries. Both were produced by Walker George Films and broadcast on

. The first, ''A Boy Called Alex'', followed Alex's determined and passionate attempt to conduct Bach's

Magnificat The Magnificat (Latin for "

magnifies

) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary, the Canticle of Mary and, in the Eastern Christianity, Byzantine tradition, the Ode of the Theotokos (). It is traditionally incorporated ...

while suffering from

. It was broadcast in 2008 and was nominated for a BAFTA in 2009. The second documentary, titled ''Alex: A Passion For Life'' was broadcast in October 2009. It showed Stobbs' first year at King's College, Cambridge as he prepared to conduct Bach's Matthew Passion with a full orchestra in the

, always with the backdrop of his struggles with cystic fibrosis. He also appeared on UK talkshow ''

Richard & Judy ''Richard & Judy'' (also known as ''Richard & Judy's New Position'') is a British television chat show presented by the married couple Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan. The show originally aired on Channel 4 from 26 November 2001 to 22 Augus ...

'' in January 2008, on which he performed Rachmaninov's Prelude in G Sharp minor, Op. 32/12.

Early life

Documentaries

References

External links