{"id":46860,"date":"2024-08-22T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-22T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/a1e078a4-7d4d-454e-bec1-8fd23ec02500"},"modified":"2024-08-22T12:07:23","modified_gmt":"2024-08-22T10:07:23","slug":"meet-the-sixteen-britains-happiest-choir","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/meet-the-sixteen-britains-happiest-choir\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet The Sixteen – Britain’s happiest choir!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By <\/p>

Published: Thursday, 22 August 2024 at 10:00 AM<\/p>

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Read on to discover more about The Sixteen, one of Britain’s leading chamber choirs, founded by Harry Christophers 45 years ago…<\/strong><\/p>

The Sixteen celebrates its 45th anniversary…<\/h2>
Good fortune figures in the story of one of Britain\u2019s leading professional chamber choirs. The Sixteen, which made its official debut 45 years ago, welcomed fate\u2019s blessings in lean times and was moved by it to take risks that others might have ducked. Yet its longevity and success owe more to a potent blend of artistic excellence, smart business decisions and what its founder and conductor Harry Christophers describes with a smile as \u2018the leap of faith\u2019. <\/p>
The latter played a decisive role in conceiving CORO<\/a><\/strong>, The Sixteen\u2019s own record label, launching its Choral Pilgrimage<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 an annual series of concerts in British cathedrals, chapels and churches \u2013 and developing Genesis Sixteen<\/a><\/strong>, its pioneering young artists programme.<\/p>
The Sixteen’s best Christmas recordings<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul>
Harry Christophers \u2013 a most genial conductor<\/h2>
The Sixteen\u2019s greatest good fortune rests in the character of Christophers himself. Tremendously loyal to his musicians, the organisation\u2019s staff and those freelancers who periodically work for it, the present author included, he\u2019s a master of extracting the best from people. <\/p>
His rehearsal manner is both relaxed and intensely productive, a lesson in how to combine two desirable conditions that others\u00a0struggle to harness. And it\u2019s delivered with genial English humour, enthusiasm and old-fashioned decency. \u2018What I hope we show as a group is that we\u2019re human,\u2019 he notes when we meet in Cambridge. \u2018There\u2019s no point in being a conductor of singers if you\u2019re going to feed terror into them!\u2019<\/p>
13 of the world’s best choirs<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul>
Christophers owns a keen ear for the things that he needs to fix in rehearsal and the wisdom to leave his choristers to fix others themselves. While preparing for the launch of this year\u2019s Choral Pilgrimage in the chapel of St John\u2019s College, Cambridge<\/a><\/strong>, he deftly smoothed rough edges in Lassus\u2019s Magnificat Benedicta es caelorum Regina<\/em> and Bob Chilcott<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Lauda Jerusalem Dominum<\/em>, a specially commissioned setting of Psalm 147, with a few words here or a sung phrase there. The pay-off came later with a performance hallmarked by the emotional engagement and commitment of Christophers\u2019s choristers.<\/p>
Julie Cooper, a Sixteen regular for almost 30 years, is sure that the group\u2019s generosity of spirit flows from its director. \u2018Harry is unique among conductors,\u2019 she says. \u2018He\u2019s as you see him: a kind, loyal person, and a deep and great friend. I\u2019m really proud of that and of him.\u2019 <\/p>
<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Sixteen performs Lassus’s ‘Credo’ from Missa Osculetur me<\/figcaption><\/figure><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-family-affair\">A family affair<\/h2><p>As a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-soprano\">soprano<\/a><\/strong> in demand on the freelance choral circuit, Cooper is well placed to make comparisons with Christophers\u2019s peers. \u2018Some often prefer the \u201cwhiter\u201d sound of a younger front soprano line, but Harry now enjoys a warmer sound than when the choir started. That\u2019s great for me. There\u2019s a real identity to The Sixteen and that comes from Harry. He always talks about it being a family and he engenders that feeling. We\u2019re very close. All the girls are in a big WhatsApp group together, the sops Zoomed twice a week during lockdown, and we\u2019re godmothers to each other\u2019s children.\u2019<\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/the-best-cathedral-and-abbey-choirs-across-the-uk\">The best cathedral and abbey choirs across the UK<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><p>Cooper and her husband, bass Ben Davies, are one of three married couples in The Sixteen family. The friendship group, she notes, has deepened over the years. \u2018Harry loves to be on the stage with us and in the pub after, having a laugh. That\u2019s great, and rare! I absolutely adore him. There are reasons why we do what we do in the current climate, and it\u2019s certainly not for the money! Sometimes we\u2019re working in horrible acoustics or we\u2019re exhausted, or stuff happens in people\u2019s lives. But I look forward to every single gig with The Sixteen. Harry makes the music come alive.\u2019\u00a0<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-legacy-of-organist-allan-wicks\">The legacy of organist Allan Wicks<\/h2><p>When we speak outside St John\u2019s chapel before his rehearsal, Christophers recalls key influences on his work \u2013 Allan Wicks, organist of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/canterbury-cathedral-facts-history-guide\">Canterbury Cathedral<\/a><\/strong>, and Bernard Rose, master of the choristers at Magdalen College, Oxford, among them. \u2018Allan was a total maverick, a one-off,\u2019 he notes. \u2018His musicality and love of music were incredible. He had this ability to know just how far he could push us choristers and when we needed to let off steam. That\u2019s been my approach, too. I encourage banter in rehearsal \u2013 I don\u2019t want people to sit there looking glum. I want them to enjoy themselves. The day that\u2019s lost will be the day I stop. There\u2019s no danger of that with this lot. They take the piss out of me all the time \u2013 it\u2019s great!\u2019<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-embracing-change-in-the-musical-world\">Embracing change in the musical world<\/h2><p>The Sixteen has grown accustomed to working against a background of often imperceptible, sometimes seismic change. It has weathered the contraction of formerly lucrative touring circuits overseas, embraced transformation of the recording business and found ways to keep the group going during the first year of the Covid pandemic, not least with its online Choral Odyssey series. <\/p><p>Above all, it has proved adept at responding to new opportunities without sacrificing its core artistic values, despite the pressing commercial realities of generating sufficient work. \u2018It doesn\u2019t get easier,\u2019 says Christophers. \u2018Hires abroad are few and far between at the moment. Costs have risen radically and our good friend Brexit has hindered things a lot. But I have great hopes for the future and for a new [Labour] government. But I don\u2019t expect things to be as they once were.\u2019\u00a0<\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/westminster-abbey-choir-our-guide-to-the-world-famous-abbey-choir\">Westminster Abbey Choir: our guide to the world-famous Abbey choir<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-establishing-a-name-in-the-early-years\">Establishing a name in the early years<\/h2><p>Those \u2018things\u2019 included frequent foreign tours and, during the choir\u2019s first two decades, an industrial-scale output of new recordings. The Sixteen cut their first disc for <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meridian-records.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Meridian<\/a><\/strong> in 1980, an album of sublime music from the Eton Choirbook, found an early champion in Ted Perry, founder of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hyperion-records.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hyperion Records<\/a><\/strong>, soon after and went on to record for <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chandos.net\">Chandos<\/a><\/strong>, Virgin Classics and the short-lived but productive Collins Classics label. It was an exciting time, initially fuelled by the energy of discovery and rising recognition, the latter confirmed by invitations to perform at the Salzburg Festival, the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/bbc-proms\/\">BBC Proms<\/a><\/strong>, Vienna\u2019s Musikverein and the\u00a0Amsterdam\u00a0Concertgebouw.<\/p><p>The Sixteen arrived in Salzburg just ten years after its first official outing, a concert of works by, among others, Mundy, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/henry-purcell\">Purcell<\/a><\/strong>, Pelham Humfrey and Sch\u00fctz, presented on 5 May 1979 in the chapel of Christophers\u2019s alma mater. Choir and conductor gathered the following week at St John\u2019s, Smith Square for their London debut. <\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/what-is-the-monteverdi-choir\">A guide to the Monteverdi Choir<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><p>\u2018That was a pretty important date, and we were not quite as cavalier then as we had been! Stephen Pettitt\u2019s lovely review said something like, \u201cIf the music was a revelation, then so was the sound\u00a0of the choir.\u201d I realised we\u2019d have to build a bigger audience and start communicating with them. It wasn\u2019t just about singing for a group of early music cognoscenti.\u2019<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Sixteen perform Sullivan's The Long Day Closes\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7TG3S9LYQTA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Sixteen performs Sullivan’s The Long Day Closes<\/figcaption><\/figure><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-an-intense-period-of-recording\">An intense period of recording<\/h2><p>International promoters took notice after The Sixteen acquired its own period-instrument band, the Symphony of Harmony and Invention. The turning point came in 1986 when Christophers pitched the idea of recording <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/george-frideric-handel\">Handel<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s <em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/hallelujah-story-handel-s-messiah\">Messiah<\/a><\/strong><\/em> to Ted Perry. <\/p><p>\u2018I don\u2019t know how I had the gall!\u2019 he exclaims. \u2018Although I\u2019d prepared <em>Messiah<\/em> for other people, I\u2019d never performed it. \u201cYou haven\u2019t got an <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/what-instruments-make-up-an-orchestra\">orchestra<\/a><\/strong>,\u201d said Ted. \u201cI\u2019m going to form one,\u201d I replied. And lo and behold, at the end of the conversation, Ted said yes. We did four concerts at Smith Square that Christmas, all recorded live, with up-and-coming soloists: Lynne Dawson, Catherine Denley, Mike George, Maldwyn Davies and David James. Things began to go from there. We did countless <em>Messiah<\/em>s in Spain, and took it to Japan, Finland, Brazil; we even went to Australia with it.\u2019<\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/the-clarion-choir-east-meets-west\">The Clarion Choir: East meets West<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><p>Christophers shudders when he recalls recording ten or more albums a year, year after year. \u2018It was ridiculous in so many ways. We\u2019d rehearse, perform and record, then put that away and get on with whatever the next project was. After we did <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/johann-sebastian-bach\">Bach<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/recordings\/a-guide-to-bachs-mass-in-b-minor-and-its-best-recordings\">B minor Mass<\/a><\/strong> in 1994, we didn\u2019t perform it again for 10 years, which was crazy. Recording was brilliant and helped spread The Sixteen\u2019s name. But it could never beat giving good concerts.\u2019 <\/p><p>As the compact disc market became saturated and labels large and small retrenched, income from concerts mattered more than ever. Unlike many groups that struggled when the short-lived recording boom of the 1980s came to an end, The Sixteen forged solid partnerships with concert promoters in the UK, Manchester\u2019s Bridgewater Hall and the Edinburgh International Festival among them, that guaranteed a steady stream of work.<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-creating-the-choral-pilgrimage\">Creating the Choral Pilgrimage<\/h2><p>While it was one thing for The Sixteen to shelter under the umbrella of an existing concert series, it was quite another for it to stake the future on promoting its own gigs. The collapse of a project to commission a work for the Millennium put the risky business of concert promotion on the agenda, tabled in 1999 by Anthony Smith, then chair of The Sixteen\u2019s Development Board. <\/p><p>\u2018\u201cWhy don\u2019t you go around doing concerts at UK cathedrals?\u201d he asked,\u2019 recalls Christophers. \u2018We looked at him and said, \u201cTony, that\u2019s the most ridiculous idea. It\u2019ll bankrupt us!\u201d We thought London was the source of the nation\u2019s musical life. How wrong we were!\u2019<\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/best-cathedrals-in-the-world\">Best cathedrals in the world<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><p>Smith\u2019s brainchild bore fruit in 2000 with what was planned as a one-off Choral Pilgrimage. Its dozen concerts, bookended by performances of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/thomas-tallis\">Tallis<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s <em>Spem in alium<\/em> at York Minster and Canterbury Cathedral, proved a box-office hit. <\/p><p>\u2018And here we are, 24 years later, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/news\/sixteen-tour-monteverdis-vespers\">still doing it<\/a><\/strong>! I think other colleagues are dead envious of what we\u2019ve created. But it took work to establish and there have been big lulls before it\u2019s taken off again. It all comes down to means and the fact that travel costs are more and hotel costs have doubled. We\u2019ve had to lose one or two places this year, with the hope that we\u2019ll be able to put them back next year.\u2019<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-joy-of-touring-with-friends\">The joy of touring with friends<\/h2><p>Soprano Katy Hill notes how the pattern of Choral Pilgrimage trips to cathedral cities, ornate chapels, familiar pubs, tea shops and chippies contributes royally to The Sixteen\u2019s close bond. \u2018It\u2019s joyful,\u2019 she says, a verdict confirmed by the expression on her face during the choir\u2019s St John\u2019s outing in April. <\/p><p>\u2018It means that a trip away is social as well as work. I think that translates onto the stage. Having a giggle in the changing room while you\u2019re waiting to go on is the best way to dissipate nerves, especially when Harry is part of it. With him you can bring your own personality to the group, which gives the freedom to get inside the music. That\u2019s a really comfortable place to be. It\u2019s a real privilege.\u2019<\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/worlds-best-choirs\">Here’s why choristers voices are so beautiful, according to science<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-recruiting-singers-the-launch-of-genesis-sixteen\">Recruiting singers – the launch of Genesis Sixteen<\/h2><p>While Oxbridge college choirs have long been a prime source of The Sixteen\u2019s singers, Christophers has widened the recruitment pipeline in recent years to take in talents from other UK universities and the conservatoires. \u2018We tend to get very insular in London,\u2019 he comments. \u2018We\u2019ve got to look further afield than Oxbridge. We\u2019ve reached many more students from the conservatoires through Genesis Sixteen. They might not necessarily be able to sightread as well as Oxbridge choral scholars but they\u2019re just as musical. If they work with Genesis Sixteen, their reading gets better \u2013 it\u2019s no problem! It\u2019s amazing to see the progress in the three weeks we have them across the year.\u2019<\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/a-history-of-cambridge-mixed-choirs\">A history of Cambridge mixed choirs<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><p>Genesis Sixteen, a free programme for young artists chosen by audition, has to date reached 300 UK-based singers through its week-long and weekend sessions led by Christophers and members of his choir. It has grown thanks to funding from investment banker and philanthropist John Studzinski\u2019s Genesis Foundation, which has also supported around 30 new commissions for The Sixteen, including <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/james-macmillan-2\">James MacMillan<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Stabat Mater, Fifth Symphony \u2018Le grand Inconnu\u2019, and a major composition for 2026, and shorter pieces by, among others, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/panufnik-roxanna\">Roxanna Panufnik<\/a><\/strong>, Alissa Firsova, Will Todd and Cecilia McDowall. <\/p><p>\u2018John, bless him, saw in us a group that was going to do something with the money that would make a difference, whether by encouraging\u00a0 or commissioning young composers and performing their work as many times as possible, hopefully recording them and maybe helping them with publishers. Those are all exciting things.\u2019<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-sixteen-looking-to-the-future\">The Sixteen – looking to the future<\/h2><p>Age has been kind to Harry Christophers. He looks much the same as he did when we first met in the early 1990s, and his energy and passion remain undiminished. While retirement is not on the horizon, how do things stand on the succession planning front? <\/p><p>\u2018We\u2019re constantly thinking about that,\u2019 he replies. \u2018The Sixteen\u2019s ethos means there has to be a legacy. It has to continue and Genesis Sixteen has to continue in the same way. The group is very strong and we have phenomenal staff behind us and behind CORO. There will be developments over the next couple of years, and we\u2019ll see where that takes us. But legacy is very much top of the list, to make sure that the traditions we\u2019ve set up \u2013 the Choral Pilgrimage, the promotion of young singers, bringing music from the past to life and concentrating on composers of today \u2013 continue long into the future.\u2019<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Published: Thursday, 22 August 2024 at 10:00 AM Read on to discover more about The Sixteen, one of Britain’s leading chamber choirs, founded by Harry Christophers 45 years ago… The Sixteen celebrates its 45th anniversary… Good fortune figures in the story of one of Britain\u2019s leading professional chamber choirs. The Sixteen, which made its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":46861,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"11"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/meet-the-sixteen-britains-happiest-choir.png",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/meet-the-sixteen-britains-happiest-choir-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/meet-the-sixteen-britains-happiest-choir-300x200.png",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/meet-the-sixteen-britains-happiest-choir-768x512.png",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/meet-the-sixteen-britains-happiest-choir-1024x683.png",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/meet-the-sixteen-britains-happiest-choir.png",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/meet-the-sixteen-britains-happiest-choir.png",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Published: Thursday, 22 August 2024 at 10:00 AM Read on to discover more about The Sixteen, one of Britain’s leading chamber choirs, founded by Harry Christophers 45 years ago… The Sixteen celebrates its 45th anniversary… Good fortune figures in the story of one of Britain\u2019s leading professional chamber choirs. The Sixteen, which made its…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/46860"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}