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Eric Whitacre served as visiting fellow at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, during the Michaelmas term of 2010. Every weekday morning he would take his young son on a 25-minute walk to school, following the river Cam through the city’s tree-lined heart. The composer became attuned to its sights and sounds: ‘It was a spectacular and magical experience. During that time I got to see the seasons change, so I began [the school run] in autumn, then it cooled and finally [it] snowed.’

The riverscape, with its constantly changing light and reflections, led Whitacre to meditate on the spiritual borderland between the duties of everyday life and the glories of the natural world. Fragments of melody arose in his mind, hummed into the Cambridge air as he walked.

Cellist Julian Lloyd Webber called Whitacre with a request for a work to mark his 60th birthday in 2011. The composer channelled all of his ideas into the yearning and mysterious score for The River Cam.