Christopher Purves

Bass-baritone Christopher Purves has taken on operatic parts spanning Baroque works through contemporary scores while delivering choral repertoire at the Proms and other prominent concert halls. His path stands out because it encompasses an extended stretch in popular music as a member of the doo-wop and jazz vocal ensemble Harvey & the Wallbangers.

Born October 11, 1961, in Cambridge, England, Purves followed the common route of many classical singers by serving as a boy chorister and later a choral scholar at King's College, Cambridge. He completed a degree in English there and, upon finishing his studies, entered Harvey & the Wallbangers in 1983, where he supplied the bass line and also performed on trumpet. When the group broke up in 1987 he moved into freelance experimental vocal work and added his voice to performances by the commercially successful ensemble The Sixteen. During the 1990s he began securing parts with touring opera troupes. Speaking with Rupert Christiansen of the Telegraph about a production of Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen, he recalled receiving key guidance from director Claire Venables: "Stop trying to pretend to be someone you're not. Just do nothing."

Beginning in 1997, Purves held repeated engagements with Britain's Opera North; his prior connection with The Sixteen and its leader Harry Christophers opened doors to solo appearances under leading early-music conductors including Philippe Herreweghe and Richard Hickox. He sang John Tavener's 140-minute Apocalypse at the Proms alongside the City of London Sinfonia. In subsequent seasons he assumed major bass and baritone roles such as Alberich in Wagner's Das Rheingold at the Houston Grand Opera and the title character in Verdi's Falstaff. He took part in the 2010 film musical Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy). A 2004 Chandos recording of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro captured his Figaro, and in the 2010s he issued two collections of Handel's bass arias with the early-music group Arcangelo under Jonathan Cohen, the second volume released in 2018. In 2019 he appeared as bass soloist on Martyn Brabbins' recording of Elgar's rarely heard cantata Caractacus, and he returned in 2023 with the recital My Soul, What Fear You? accompanied by pianist Simon Lepper.