After twenty-nine years of world-wide performance and recording, The Sixteen is recognised as one of the world’s greatest ensembles. Comprising both choir and period-instrument orchestra, The Sixteen's total commitment to the music it performs is its greatest distinction. Its special reputation for performing early English polyphony, masterpieces of the Renaissance, bringing fresh insights into Baroque and early Classical music and a diversity of 20th Century music, is drawn from the passions of conductor and founder, Harry Christophers.

 

At home in the UK, The Sixteen are "The Voices of Classic FM" as well as Associate Artists of Southbank Centre, London.  The group promotes an annual series in the Queen Elizabeth Hall and in Oxford as well as The Choral Pilgrimage, a tour of our finest cathedrals bringing music back to the buildings for which it was written. 

The Sixteen tour throughout Europe, Japan, Australia and the Americas and have given regular performances at major concert halls and festivals worldwide, including the Barbican Centre, Bridgewater Hall - Manchester, Concertgebouw - Amsterdam, Sydney Opera House, Tokyo Opera City and Vienna Musikverein, and also at the BBC Proms, the festivals of Granada, Lucerne, Istanbul, Prague and Salzburg. The vigour and passion of its performance win new fans wherever it performs.

In addition The Sixteen’s period orchestra has taken part in highly acclaimed semi-staged performances of Purcell’s Fairy Queen in Tel Aviv and London, a fully-staged production of Purcell’s King Arthur in Lisbon’s Belem Centre,  followed by new productions of Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria at Lisbon Opera House and Poppea at English National Opera.

Over one hundred recordings reflect The Sixteen’s quality in a range of work spanning the music of five hundred years, winning many awards including Grand Prix du Disque, numerous Schallplattenkritik, the coveted Gramophone Award for Early Music, the prestigious Classical Brit Award in 2005 for Renaissance, and most recently being nominated for a Grammy Award and two Classical Brits for IKON. These latter two discs were recorded as part of the group's contract with Universal Classics and Jazz.

Over the last six years, The Sixteen has been building its own record label, CORO, which now boasts over 50 releases.  Heroes and Heroines, a recording of Handel arias with the stunning British mezzo-soprano, Sarah Connolly, is nothing short of a revelation. 

New recordings include Music from the Sistine Chapel,  Elin Manahan Thomas' live recording of Handel Italian Cantatas, Music from the Chapel Royal, Victoria Requiem and for release in March Fauré's Requiem, recorded live at the 2007 Mostly Mozart Festival with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.

Bringing together live concerts and recording plans has allowed The Sixteen to develop a glittering catalogue of releases, containing music from the Renaissance and Baroque through to great works of our time.

 

Board of Trustees
Robin Barda (Chairman), John Bickley, Harry Christophers, Veronica Christophers, John Christophers, Simon Gulliver, Keith Parker, Richard Price, Francis Quinlan, Anthony Smith CBE

Advisory Board of The Sixteen
Adam Singer (Chairman), Ewen Balfour, Charles Bennett, Sir David Brewer CMG, Graham Brown, Sir Andrew Burns KCMG, Felicity Clarke, Anthony Fry, Caroline Garnham, Robert Gray, Guy Hands, Simon Haslam, John Howland-Jackson, Robert Kirk, Mark Loveday, Debbie McMenamin, Dede Sanderson.