Christopher Willcock was born in Sydney, Australia in 1947 and completed his studies in piano at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and in composition under Peter Sculthorpe at the University of Sydney.

He was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1977 and then did doctoral studies in sacramental and liturgical theology jointly at the Institut Catholique and the Sorbonne in Paris.

He is presently a member of the United Faculty of Theology in Melbourne where he teaches courses in liturgy.

As well as his theological teaching commitments, Christopher Willcock keeps his musical interests alive, especially as a composer. Among his published liturgical music is a general collection:

• Songs of Prayer;
• a volume of psalm settings: Psalms for Feasts and Seasons;
• In the Peace of Christ, a collection of music for the funeral rites; and
• five collections published by Oregon Catholic Press:
  
  • God Here Among Us,
  • In Remembrance of You,
  • Your Kingdom Come,
  • Sing We Now of Christmas, and
  • Psalms for the Journey.

In 1993 Christopher Willcock was the inaugural recipient of Australia's Dr Percy Jones Memorial Award for Outstanding Contribution to Liturgical Music.

Whilst most of his compositional activity has been in the area of liturgical music, another part of Willcock's work was written for the concert hall. Among the more significant works are:

• Lines from Little Gidding for choir and organ;
• Friday 3.30 for choir and string orchestra;
• Plaint over Dili for oboe and harpsichord;
• the staged song-cycle New Song in an Ancient Land;
• John Shaw Neilson Triptych for a cappella choir; and
• Five Days Old for choir and orchestra.

His Akhmatova Requiem for soprano solo, strings and percussion, was the winner of the Albert Maggs Award from the University of Melbourne in 1998.

For the year 2004 he is the composer-in-residence for The Melbourne Chorale who in August will present the première of his Miserere, a setting for a cappella choir of Psalm 50/51.

He has served on various boards and subcommittees of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL), and currently is a member of the National Liturgical Commission of the Australian Conference of Catholic Bishops.