The Sixteen
Harry Christophers and his group The Sixteen are the voices of Classic FM.
At the heart of the partnership is a shared desire to build new audiences for classical music and choral music in particular. Under the inspirational leadership of Harry Christophers, The Sixteen has developed from its roots as a group of Oxford graduates passionate about the choral tradition to one of the world's most brilliantly honed chamber choirs.
After thirty 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.
Concerts in 2010
Celebrating Handel
Friday 8 January, 7.30pm
Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
To commemorate the 250th anniversary of Handel's death in 1759, the choir and orchestra of The Sixteen perform some of his most popular works: the four coronation anthems, choruses from the Messiah and other orchestral favourites.
6.30pm Harry Christophers in conversation about Handel
CD signing after the performance
Bach B minor Mass
10 March, 7.30pm
Barbican Hall, London
Gillian Keith (soprano), Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano), Robert Murray (tenor) and Dietrich Henschel (bass) join The Sixteen and Harry Christophers for Bach’s B minor Mass.
Sacred Music
3/4/5 April
Queen Elizabeth Hall
Based on last year's television series, Sacred Music takes the audience on an awe-inspiring journey through the landmarks of European sacred music. Mixing live performance with original television footage Harry Christophers develops the themes of his television series in a unique group of performances.
3 April, 8pm – The Gothic Revolution
Featuring the music of Léonin and Pérotin. This investigation into the very early development of Western sacred music, from simple plainchant to the glorious world of polyphony, concentrates on Paris in the 12th and 13th centuries and the most famous of all medieval music manuscripts, the Magnus Liber.
4 April, 8pm – Tallis, Byrd and the Tudors
Tallis and Byrd were composers at the very centre of England's musical Renaissance in the Tudor Age. The film elements expose the often brutal uncertainties of the life of a church musician in the 16th century, while the live performance presents the intense beauty of music such as Tallis' Miserere and Byrd's Quomodo cantabimus.
5 April, 5pm – Palestrina and the Popes
Palestrina's work is considered by many to be unsurpassed in its spiritual perfection, but running underneath it is the turbulent story of the counter-Reformation, which would have a dramatic impact on the composer's life and music. The glorious architecture and art of the High Renaissance, viewed through the combined prisms of film and live music, complete a compelling picture of this golden age of sacred music.
Find out more about The Sixteen at www.thesixteen.com
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