Barbican Britten: The Sixteen, 22 Nov

Marco Borggreve
About the
performers
Harry Christophers
Harry Christophers cbe conductor
Harry Christophers is known internationally as
founder and conductor of The Sixteen, as well as
being a regular guest conductor for many major
symphony orchestras and opera companies
worldwide. He has directed The Sixteen choir
and orchestra 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, for which he has won
numerous accolades, including Gramophone
Awards, a Classical BRIT Award and a MIDEM
Classical Award. In 2009 he and The Sixteen
received Gramophone‘s Artist of the Year Award.
Harry Christophers has been Artistic Director of
Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society since 2008
and will continue in this role until at least 2015.
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, he
continues to lend his artistic direction to opera.
In 2006 he conducted Mozart’s Mitridate for
the Granada Festival and, in the wake of his
successes at Buxton Opera, he returned last year
to conduct Handel’s Jephtha. Previous opera
productions include Mozart’s The Magic Flute
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 both Magdalen College, Oxford, and
the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, and
has an Honorary Doctorate in Music from the
University of Leicester.
The Sixteen
Now in its 34th year, The Sixteen is recognised
as one of the world’s leading 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 and
bringing fresh insights into Baroque and early
Classical music as well as a diversity of 20th- and
21st-century music, is drawn from the passions of
founder and conductor Harry Christophers.
At home in the UK The Sixteen are ‘The Voices
of Classic FM’ and Associate Artists at The
Bridgewater Hall. The group promotes The Choral
Pilgrimage, an annual tour of the UK’s finest
cathedrals.
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
Centre, The Bridgewater Hall, 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.
15 About the performers