The works of Sir William Walton have enjoyed both commercial and critical success. At least two major works, Façade and Belshazzar's Feast, have found enduring popularity with concert audiences, and he has reached a wider audience with his scores for the Shakespeare films of Laurence Olivier.
Walton was born on , in Oldham, Lancashire. Both of his parents were singing teachers, and his father was a church choirmaster. At age nine, Walton passed the entrance audition for the...