Harry Christophers

Conductor Harry Christophers first gained widespread recognition through his role as founder and leader of the Sixteen. His recordings with that ensemble and with the Handel and Haydn Society have collected numerous prizes, while separate engagements have taken him to opera houses and festivals across Europe. In 2001 he launched the Coro label with the Sixteen, which has since released more than 150 discs under his direction.

Born on 26 December 1953 in Goudhurst, Kent, England, Christophers attended the Canterbury Cathedral Choir School before continuing his studies at Magdalen College, Oxford. He established the Sixteen together with its instrumental ensemble in 1977. Although the group concentrates on early English polyphony, its programs range from Renaissance works to scores by living composers, and Christophers has guided the singers on extensive tours through Europe, America, Australia, and Asia. To present choral-orchestral repertoire he created the Symphony of Harmony & Invention. Marking the arrival of the new millennium in 2000, he and the Sixteen inaugurated the annual Choral Pilgrimage, a series of concerts presented in English cathedrals that continues to the present.

Beyond his work with the Sixteen, Christophers has appeared as guest conductor with the English Chamber Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic, and the St. Louis Symphony. On the operatic stage his credits include Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse, Gluck’s Orfeo, and Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. He made his English National Opera debut in 2000 leading Monteverdi’s Coronation of Poppea and has returned regularly to both that company and the Lisbon Opera. In 2009 he added the post of artistic director of the Handel and Haydn Society, America’s oldest continuously performing musical organization. Under his leadership the ensemble evolved into a historically informed performance ensemble, documented by a new recording of Haydn’s The Creation issued in 2013.

From 2010 onward Christophers and the Sixteen maintained a rapid recording schedule that extended well into the 2020s. Each release is accompanied by a brief note from the conductor outlining his personal interest in the repertoire. While the central focus remains Baroque and Renaissance music, he has also explored Mozart and contemporary scores. British listeners have especially appreciated his straightforward, engaging manner, resulting in frequent radio play and robust sales. All of the Sixteen’s discs, as well as those of the Handel and Haydn Society, appear on the Coro label that Christophers founded. For the group’s 40th anniversary in 2019 he compiled the retrospective album 40, drawing on performances from across its history. The following year the 20th anniversary of the Choral Pilgrimage was marked by the release of The Call to Rome, a program that remained active through 2024.

Christophers’ recordings have earned the Grand Prix du Disque, Deutsche Schallplatten prizes, and Diapason d’Or awards; the first volume of the five-part series Music from the Eton Choirbook brought him the 1992 Gramophone Early Music Award. In 2012 he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire.