Nicholas Cleobury is on a mission. As a lifelong devotee of the works of Benjamin Britten he is always keen to share his passion, and Britten in Oxford — of which he is artistic director — gives him the perfect opportunity to do just that.

In particular, he hopes to show people who are uncertain about Britten’s music just how accessible and appealing it can be.

“There’s still a lot of people who are not sure they like Britten,” he acknowledges. “That’s why we want to try to bring this music to people because it’s really life-enhancing. And it isn’t difficult. There’s tunes, there’s colour, there’s emotion and, above all, a fabulous technique, so everything really works, whether it’s a choral piece or an opera or a song.

“Just to work on the songs alone, even if you didn’t hear the music, they would take you to some of the greatest poetry there’s ever been. It’s a treasure trove for people, and I just hope they’ll come to the Britten in Oxford concerts.”

Nicholas’s own passion for Britten goes back to his childhood. He was born in Bromley, Kent, in 1950, but grew up in Birmingham, where he became a regular attendee at concerts given by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

He and his elder brother Stephen — also a conductor and an organist — enjoyed a musical upbringing, and both parents were, he says, “extremely musical”.

One of his earliest musical experiences, which he remembers with great fondness, was becoming a chorister at Worcester Cathedral, where he often sang Britten’s music. He is, however, anxious to dispel the oft-quoted anecdote that he sang in the premiere of Britten’s War Requiem.

“That actually isn’t true,” he says. “What I did sing in as a boy was the opening service of Coventry Cathedral at the same time the War Requiem was given. So it was the next best thing!”

It was here in Oxford that, he says, his love for contemporary music “really got fired up”. He studied at Worcester College as an organ scholar, and was taught by the distinguished composer and pianist Kenneth Leighton, who is probably best known for his setting of the Coventry Carol.

While in Oxford, Nicholas also sang with Schola Cantorum, the university’s oldest choir. This led to a meeting with legendary composer Michael Tippett, who became a close friend and mentor.

“Michael had a very strong connection with Schola Cantorum, which I was lucky enough to sing in and subsequently conduct,” Nicholas says. “That training from Kenneth, and the lifelong professional and personal friendship with Michael Tippett, sealed the deal for me, really.”

From those early days, Nicholas has established a reputation as a champion of contemporary music, which has become a constant strand throughout his conducting career. Many of his friends are composers, and one of his chief pleasures is working with them and ensuring their music gets played.

He estimates that he has conducted more than 100 premieres in a career spanning 40 years, including works by leading British composers such as Birtwistle, Maxwell Davies, Macmillan and Henze, and hopes that the forthcoming Britten in Oxford festival will become a platform for new composers.

“I just think music has to be kept live, by being performed and by being composed and created,” he says. “That’s why we’ve got a Writing for Voices workshop as part of Britten in Oxford, and why we hope there’ll be some legacy from this of helping young composers.

“It’s all quite logical, because it does go back to what Britten was all about. He nurtured young composers hugely, so we’re following in his footsteps.”

In 1992, Nicholas became founder laureate of the Britten Sinfonia, which he conducted for about 14 years, and this allowed him to expand his personal repertoire of Britten music. “That got immediate approval from Britten-Pears — they very closely monitor what is done about Britten. They gave us the name and we did lots of things there. So I’ve conducted a lot of Britten’s pieces. I’ve far from done them all, but I suppose I’ve done about 30 of them.”

But Nicholas’s career hasn’t been shaped entirely by Britten. When I caught up with him he was in New York to conduct The Magic Flute, and he has conducted a large swathe of the classical repertoire with the likes of the London Mozart Players, the Hallé, the Royal Philharmonic and all the BBC orchestras, as well as many overseas orchestras and chamber ensembles.

He is also renowned as an opera and choral conductor. He is the artistic director of Mid-Wales Opera, and has worked with English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Opera North, British Youth Opera and the BBC Singers, among others, and of course has been conductor of the Oxford Bach Choir for almost 20 years.

But Britten remains a towering influence in his career, and becoming artistic director of the Britten in Oxford festival is, for him, the icing on an already very generously decorated cake.

“I just felt I wanted to contribute something, and I’ve had marvellous support from friends and colleagues. There’s a lot going on in Oxford, and it’s an ideal place to do a lot of the repertoire. Obviously the big operas won’t come here and some of the big symphonic works are harder to do, but we’ve got the War Requiem, which I’m doing with the Oxford Bach Choir and that’s already sold out.

“I would stress that there really is something for everybody. For me, Britten was one of the absolute icons of the 20th century with his ability to write for anybody — he was the people’s composer. We’ve had some wonderful composers in the 20th century, and Britten is absolutely up there with the best.”

nFor details of Britten in Oxford, visit britteninoxford.co.uk