Richard Henry Tudor "Harry" Christophers

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

FRSCM The Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) is a Christian music education organisation dedicated to the promotion of music in Christian worship, in particular the repertoire and traditions of Anglican church music, largely through publications, tr ...

(born 26 December 1953) is an English conductor.

Life and career

Richard Henry Tudor Christophers was born in

Goudhurst Goudhurst is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. It lies in the Weald, around south of Maidstone, on the crossroads of the A262 and B2079. The parish consists of three wards: Goudhurst, Kilndown and ...

, Kent. He was a chorister at

Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the ...

under choirmaster

Allan Wicks Edward Allan Wicks (6 June 1923, Harden, West Yorkshire − 4 February 2010) was an English cathedral organist, who served in Canterbury Cathedral for nearly 30 years. He was an early champion of the music of Olivier Messiaen, Peter Maxwell ...

, and later went to the

King's School, Canterbury The King's School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for 13 to 18 year old pupils) in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's ...

, where he played

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

in the orchestra alongside

Andrew Marriner Andrew Marriner (born 25 February 1954MARRINER, Andrew Stephen
''Who's Who 2 ...

. He has cited as his childhood musical influences

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...

Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...

and Jethro Tull.'' Christophers became an academical clerk at

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

, studying

classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

for two years before beginning his musical career. He spent six years as a

lay vicar A lay clerk, also known as a lay vicar, song man or a vicar choral, is a professional adult singer in an Anglican cathedral and often Roman Catholic Cathedrals in the UK, or (occasionally) collegiate choir in Britain and Ireland. The vicars chora ...

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

and then time as a member of the Clerkes of Oxenford and three years in the

BBC Singers The BBC Singers are a British chamber choir, and the professional chamber choir of the BBC. One of the six BBC Performing Groups, the BBC Singers are based at the BBC's Maida Vale Studios in London. The only full-time professional British c ...

The Sixteen and the Handel and other conducting work

Christophers founded the vocal ensemble

the Sixteen The Sixteen are a United Kingdom-based choir and period instrument orchestra; founded by Harry Christophers, they started as an unnamed group of sixteen friends in 1977, giving their first billed concert in 1979. The group performs early Engl ...

in 1979. He has directed the Sixteen and its orchestra throughout Europe, America and the Far East, becoming recognised for his work in Renaissance, Baroque and

20th-century music The following Wikipedia articles deal with 20th-century music. Western art music Main articles *20th-century classical music *Contemporary classical music, covering the period Sub-topics *Aleatoric music *Electronic music *Experimental music *Ex ...

. With the Sixteen he has conducted recordings for CORO (the Sixteen's own label) and other labels including

Hyperion Records Hyperion Records is an independent British classical record label. History Hyperion is an independent British classical label that was established in 1980 with the goal of showcasing recordings of music in all genres and from all time period ...

, UCJ and Virgin Classics. Several recordings have received honours such as a ''Grand Prix du Disque'' and a Midem award for Handel's ''Messiah'', numerous Schallplattenkritik, the Gramophone Award for

Early Music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad musical era for the beginning of Western classical m ...

and the Classical Brit Award 2005 for the disc ''Renaissance''. The Sixteen's 2009 recording of Handel's

Coronation Anthems A coronation anthem is a piece of choral music written to accompany the coronation of a monarch. Many composers have written coronation anthems. However, the best known were composed by George Frideric Handel for the coronation of the British ...

earned a Classic FM Gramophone Award in the Baroque Vocal category as well as Artist of the Year honours for Christophers and the Sixteen. The recording also earned Christophers a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

nomination for Best Choral Performance. In 2000, Christophers began the "Choral Pilgrimage", a national tour of English cathedrals from York to Canterbury, in music from the pre-Reformation era as the Sixteen's contribution to the millennium celebrations. This then led to subsequent annual pilgrimages devised around particular themes. As part of The Sixteen's thirtieth anniversary in 2009, the ninth pilgrimage was dedicated to the anniversaries of

Henry Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer. Purcell's style of Baroque music was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Generally considered among the greatest E ...

James MacMillan Sir James Loy MacMillan, (born 16 July 1959) is a Scottish classical composer and conductor. Early life MacMillan was born at Kilwinning, in North Ayrshire, but lived in the East Ayrshire town of Cumnock until 1977. His father is James MacMi ...

and

George Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, ...

. The 2011 pilgrimage focused on the music of

Tomás Luis de Victoria Tomás Luis de Victoria (sometimes Italianised as ''da Vittoria''; ) was the most famous Spanish composer of the Renaissance. He stands with Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Orlande de Lassus as among the principal composers of the late Ren ...

and the 2012 pilgrimage, entitled "The Earth Resounds", explores the sacred music of Flanders in the 15th and 16th centuries by composers Josquin, Brumel and Lassus. In September 2008, Christophers was named the artistic director of the

Handel and Haydn Society The Handel and Haydn Society is an American chorus and period instrument orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. Known colloquially as 'H+H', the organization has been in continual performance since its founding in 1815, the longest-serving suc ...

in Boston, Massachusetts, beginning in the 2009–2010 season, for an initial contract of three seasons. In September 2011, his contract with the Handel and Haydn Society was extended another four seasons until the 2015–2016 season, in time for the organisation's bicentennial celebrations. He concluded his Handel and Haydn Society tenure as its artistic director in May 2022, and now has the title of conductor laureate with the organisation. Christophers has conducted numerous productions for Lisbon Opera and English National Opera as well as conducting the UK premiere of Messager's opera ''Fortunio'' for Grange Park Opera. He is a regular conductor at Buxton Opera where he initiated a cycle of Handel's operas and oratorios including ''Semele'', ''Samson'' and ''Saul''. Christophers is an honorary Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, as well as the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and has been awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Music from the University of Leicester. Christophers is also Patron of th
Southwell Music Festival
in Nottinghamshire. He was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to music. In 2014, he was awarded with a fellowship of the

Royal School of Church Music The Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) is a Christian music education organisation dedicated to the promotion of music in Christian worship, in particular the repertoire and traditions of Anglican church music, largely through publications, tr ...

.Royal School of Church Music reveals recipients of honorary awards for 2014
/ref>

References

External links

The Sixteen page on Harry Christophers, 'Meet Harry Christophers'
*
Christophers Interview with Paris Konstantinidis
earlymusicguide.com (19 July 2007)
"Royal Welsh College Celebrates Graduation and Honours New Fellows", Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, July 2009

Handel and Haydn Society page on Harry Christophers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christophers, Harry English choral conductors British male conductors (music) British performers of early music Founders of early music ensembles Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford People educated at The King's School, Canterbury Musicians from Kent People from Goudhurst 1953 births Living people 21st-century British conductors (music) 21st-century British male musicians