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The Sixteen (Choral Group)

Founded: 1977 - England

The Sixteen is one of the jewels in the musical crown of Britain. Internationally recognised as one of the finest choirs of our time, it is admired for performances combining clarity and precision with beauty and dramatic intensity. It concentrates on the heritage of early English polyphony, masterpieces of the Renaissance and Baroque, and a diversity of twentieth century choral work. The choir is complimented for larger scale works by its orchestra, The Symphony of Harmony and Invention, and through it Harry Christophers brings fresh insights to the music of Purcell, Monteverdi, J.S. Bach and George Frideric Handel. Many prize-winning recordings reflect the quality and inspiration of the group's work.

Recent years have seen the group's debuts at the Vienna Musikverein, the Brisbane, Covent Garden, Halle, Istanbul and Lucerne festivals, and at the Lisbon Opera in a new production of Monteverdi's Il Ritorno d'Ulisse. In 2000 The Sixteen made a Choral Pilgrimage to the finest English cathedrals, returning pre-reformation music written for these buildings to its home. This met with a huge public response. In coming months the group makes major tours of Japan and the USA, returns to the Covent Garden Festival, New York's Lincoln Center, Manchester's Bridgewater Hall and London's Barbican Centre, and makes debuts at the Scarlatti Festival, Italy, Theatre des Champs-Elysees, Paris, and the Belfast, Brighton, Chicester, Norwich and Three Choirs festivals.

The Sixteen's seventy CD recordings have won many accolades, including two Grands Prix du Disque, two Deutsche Schallplatten prizes and the 1992 Gramophone Early Music Award for the first of the five volume series Music from the Eton Choirbook. Their Igor Stravinsky and Francis Poulenc disc with the BBC Philharmonic and Frank Martin disc won Diapason d'Or awards in 1995 and 1996. Recordings span music over six centuries, from simple plainchant to the most virtuosic 20th century choral writing: medieval English music, Robert Carver, Sheppard, Taverner, Tallis, Byrd, the Portuguese 17th century composers Melgas and Rebelo, Purcell, J.S. Bach, G.F. Handel's oratorios, F. Poulenc, Benjamin Britten, I. Stravinsky, Messiaen, Lesur, Leonard Bernstein and Tavener.

Members of the The Sixteen:

Sopranos

Altos

Tenors

Basses

Ildikó Allen
Charlotte Beament
Tessa Bonner
Emma Brain-Gabbott
Zoë Brown
Jane Butler
Jessica Cale
Amy Carson
Fiona Clarke
Sam Cobb
Julie Cooper
Libby Crabtree
Sophie Daneman
Grace Davidson
Ruth Dean
Julia Doyle
Sally Dunkley
Patricia Forbes
Rebecca Hickey
Alison Hill
Katy Hill
Kirsty Hopkins
Emilia Hughes
Nicola Jenkin
Nicola-Jane Kemp
Alexandra Kidgell
Carys Lane
Elin Manahan Thomas
Siân Menna
Victoria Meteyard
Charlotte Mobbs
Amy Moore
Helen Neeves
Danni O'Neill
Rebecca Outram
Suzanne Pederson
Elspeth Piggott
Katie Pringle
Ruth Provost
Mary Seers
Olive Simpson
Alison Smart
Eleanor Thompson
Daisy Walford

Ian Aitkenhead [MB]
Robin Barda
Robin Blaze
Stephen Carter
David Clegg
Nancy Cole
Daniel Collins
Tristram Cooke
Andrew Giles
Ruth Gleave
David Gould
Peter Gritton
Natanya Hadda
Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek
Michael Lees
Rebecca Leggett
Emma Lewis
David Martin
Rory McCleery
William Missin
Philip Newton
Kim Porter
William Purefoy
Christopher Royall
Susanna Spicer
Caroline Trevor
Matthew Venner
Penny Vickers

Paul Agnew
Ben Alden
Daniel Auchincloss
Malcolm Bennett
Simon Berridge
Jeremy Budd
Peter Burrows
Andrew Busher
Andrew Carwood
Philip Cave
Guy Cutting
Philip Daggett
Mark Dobell
Jonathan Hanley
Robert Johnston
Thomas Kelly
William Knight
Matthew Long
Duncan MacKenzie
Nicholas Madden
Neil MacKenzie
Mark Padmore
Nicholas Pritchard
Tom Raskin
Nicolas Robertson
David Roy
Nicholas Todd
Matthew Vine
Simon Wall

Charlie Baigent
Simon Birchall
Matthew Brook
Michael Bundy
Roger Cleverdon
Jack Comerford
Ben Davies
Eamonn Dougan
Robert Evans
Charles Gibbs
Christopher Hodges
James Holliday
Timothy Jones
John Lee
Robert Macdonald
Michael McCarthy
Angus McPhee
Mark Peterson
Christopher Purves
Francis Steele
David Stuart
Reuben Thomas
Laurence Whitehead
Stewart Young

MB = Missing Biography. If you would like to contribute a biography of the artist, please send me a message. My e-mail address and the instructions can be found at the page: Short Biographies - Explanation.


Sources:
The Sixteen Website
Contributed by
Aryeh Oron (May 2001, January-April 2015, September 2015, January 2017, November 2023)

Harry Christophers: Short Biography | Ensembles: The Sixteen
Bach Discography:
Recordings of Vocal Works | General Discussions | BWV 248 - H. Christophers

Links to other Sites

The Sixteen (Official Website)


Biographies of Performers: Main Page | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
Explanation | Acronyms | Missing Biographies | The Sad Corner




 

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Last update: Friday, December 01, 2023 12:11