Page 47 - FINAL_The Sixteen Coverage Book 40th Anniversary Year

4 June 2019

Harry Christophers and The Sixteen: How

the choral group found their way to the

nation’s heart

As the Voices of Classic FM and stars of the BBC’s ‘Sacred
Music’, the group is quickly rising to prominence, writes Michael

Church

Michael Church

They don’t turn tricks on stage, but they’ve found their way to the

nation’s heart, as witness the fact that they have become the
official Voices of Classic FM, and the choir of choice for the BBC’s Sacred

Music TV series. They are associate artists at King's Place in London, and

at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. On 20 June they will form the
chorus for Handel’s Belshazzar at the Grange Festival in Hampshire – a
rare departure for a period choral group. Meanwhile, they will be

continuing their annual Choral Pilgrimage, giving performances in those

parts of the country where classical music doesn’t normally reach. Truro,
Carlisle, Hull, Lancaster…

And it all began by accident. Harry Christophers had been a boy

chorister at Canterbury Cathedral, and had read music at Oxford, and
was suddenly asked by a friend to put on a concert of his favourite choral

music. He got some friends together and formed a group; having sung
with the Tallis Scholars and got the bug for Tudor music, he decided that

that was the musical direction in which he wanted to go. He’d been
working as a professional singer, but realised he didn’t want to do that

forever. He’d also seen how popular programmes combining Baroque
music and modern works were becoming: the formal creation of The

Sixteen from the sixteen singers he’d gathered together for that initial ad

hoc purpose was the result.

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