The Sixteen

Please note that the only tickets remaining for this event are for seats in a side chapel with a restricted view, and are only available via the postal order form (not in box offices).

An Immortal Legacy

Harry Christophers CBE

Founder and Conductor, The Sixteen

Harry Christophers is known internationally as Founder and Conductor of The Sixteen as well as a regular guest conductor for many of the major symphony orchestras and opera companies worldwide. He has directed The Sixteen throughout Europe, America and the Asia-Pacific region, gaining a distinguished reputation for his work in Renaissance, Baroque and 21st-century music.

He has made a significant contribution to the recording catalogue (already comprising over 120 titles) for which he has won numerous awards including the coveted Gramophone Award for Early Music and the prestigious Classical Brit Award in 2005 for his disc Renaissance. His CD IKON was nominated for a 2007 Grammy and his second recording of Handel’s Messiah on The Sixteen’s own label CORO won the prestigious MIDEM Classical Award 2009. In 2009 he also received the coveted Gramophone Artist of the Year award as well as Best Baroque Vocal for Handel’s Coronation Anthems. In 2011 he featured with The Sixteen in the highly successful BBC television series, Sacred Music, presented by actor Simon Russell Beale – the latest hour-long programme was aired in December 2011, to mark the 400th anniversary of the death of the Spanish composer Tomás Luis de Victoria.

Harry Christophers is the Artistic Director of Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society (H+H). Since his appointment in 2009, Christophers has led the chorus and period ensemble through a series of ambitious projects in the build-up to the organisation’s 2015 Bicentennial with a showcase of works premiered in the US by H+H since 1815, broad education programming, and the release of a series of recordings on the CORO label. He is Principal Guest Conductor of the Granada Symphony Orchestra and regularly appears with the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields.

As well as performing on the concert stage Harry Christophers continues to lend his artistic direction to opera. In 2006, Mozart’s anniversary year, he conducted Mozart’s Mitridate for the Granada Festival and after his outstanding success at Buxton Opera in past seasons, he returned in 2012 to conduct Handel’s Jephtha. Previous opera productions include Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Purcell’s King Arthur for Lisbon Opera, Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea, Handel’s Ariodante and Gluck’s Orfeo for English National Opera and the UK premiere of Messager’s Fortunio for Grange Park Opera.

Harry Christophers received a CBE in the Queen’s 2012 Birthday Honours List. He is an Honorary Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, as well as the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and has an Honorary Doctorate in Music from the University of Leicester.

The Sixteen

Now in its 35th year, The Sixteen is recognised as one of the world’s greatest ensembles. Comprising both choir and period-instrument orchestra, The Sixteen’s total commitment to the music it performs is its greatest distinction. A special reputation for performing early English polyphony, masterpieces of the Renaissance, bringing fresh insights into Baroque and early Classical music and a diversity of 20th- and 21st-century music, is drawn from the passions of Founder and Conductor Harry Christophers CBE.

At home in the UK The Sixteen are ‘The Voices of Classic FM’ and Associate Artists of The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester. The group promotes The Choral Pilgrimage, an annual tour of the UK’s finest cathedrals which aims to bring music back to the buildings for which it was written. The Sixteen features in the highly successful BBC television series, Sacred Music, presented by actor Simon Russell Beale – the latest hour-long programme was aired in December 2011, marking the 400th anniversary of the death of the Spanish composer Tomás Luis de Victoria.           

The Sixteen tours throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas and has given regular performances at major concert halls and festivals worldwide, including the Barbican (London), The Bridgewater Hall (Manchester), Cité de la musique (Paris), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam) and Sydney Opera House. Festival appearances include the BBC Proms, Hong Kong, Wellington, Granada, Lucerne, Edinburgh, Istanbul, Prague, Bremen, La Chaise Dieu and Salzburg.

The Sixteen’s period-instrument orchestra has taken part in acclaimed semi-staged performances of Purcell’s Fairy Queen in Tel Aviv and London, a fully-staged production of Purcell’s King Arthur in Lisbon’s Belem Centre, and new productions of Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse at Lisbon Opera House and The Coronation of Poppea at English National Opera.

Over 100 recordings reflect The Sixteen’s quality in a range of work spanning the music of 500 years, winning many awards including the coveted Gramophone Award for Early Music and the prestigious Classical Brit Award for Renaissance which was recorded as part of the group’s contract with Universal Classics and Jazz. In 2009 The Sixteen was given the accolade of the Classic FM Gramophone Artist of the Year as well as Best Baroque Vocal for its recording of Handel’s Coronation Anthems.

Since 2001 The Sixteen has been building its own record label, CORO, which has released over 120 titles to date. Bringing together live concerts and recording plans has allowed The Sixteen to develop a glittering catalogue of releases, containing music from the Renaissance and Baroque through to great works of our time. Recent releases include Bach’s Lutheran Masses Volume II, further volumes in both the Palestrina and Monteverdi series, Handel’s Jephtha and Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610. Future releases include Purcell’s The Indian Queen and our Choral Pilgrimage 2015 disc both out in spring 2015.

In 2011 the group launched Genesis Sixteen, a new training programme for young singers. Aimed at 18- to 23-year-olds, this is the UK’s first fully-funded choral programme for young singers designed specifically to bridge the gap from student to professional practitioner.

For more information on The Sixteen, Harry Christophers and CORO, please visit www.thesixteen.com.