Renaissance man

Conductor Harry Christophers admits a certain amount of precociousness in the founding of his own Renaissance and Baroque choral group at the tender age of 25.

That was 30 years ago and today The Sixteen—commercially, the most successful choir of its type currently performing—enjoy an international reputation for expressive and insightful interpretations of both sacred and secular choral works from the sixteenth century to the twenty-first.

While they're regularly at Edinburgh's Greyfriars Church on their annual Choral Pilgrimage tour, 2009 represents a debut for the ensemble at the Edinburgh International Festival. Stepping out of a heavy rehearsal schedule for our brief chat, Christophers sounds excited by the prospect: “It's such a lovely departure because in the past there hasn't been so much Baroque music on show at the festival. I think previous festival directors haven't been quite so keen on period music and now we're seeing a slight change in that. That's the crazy thing about the music business; there's certain places you never seem to appear at and then suddenly you're there and you're doing two concerts.”

The Sixteen's trophy cabinet has been significantly weighed down in recent years, having seen the addition of a Grand Prix du Disque, numerous Schallplattenkritik—the German record industry's most prestigious prize—a Gramophone Award and a Classical Brit. Christophers himself was recently nominated for a Grammy for his Ikon collection of sacred works largely of the Russian tradition.

Though the ensemble's undeniable talent and expertise provide much of the answer, it can be difficult to comprehend what has led to such success in the performing of a genre of music that, until recently, has garnered little interest. Has the popularity of The Sixteen's music shocked him? “I think if you'd asked me that question back in 2000 when we started our tours I would have said yes, I'd be very surprised if this took off. But actually, the fact that we bring this music to a wider audience, we record a lot, we make it a little bit more accessible—and thank goodness for people like Classic FM who do play our music and aren't just churning out the adagio from a Mozart piano concerto yet again—means that the music can find a platform that it may not have had for so many years.”

Arguably the greatest reason for The Sixteen's success came from a happy accident in 1999 when their record company, Collins Classics, went bust: “For us, I remember when that happened and I just felt like the bottom had fallen out of our existence. A substantial part of our budget had gone and you think, how the heck are we going to replace this? With concerts?” The inevitable happy ending means that Christophers doesn't sound too bleak in relating this tale. Continuing, he says, “We really had to look at it and think, well hang on, actually the classical record industry has only itself to blame for the mess it's in, really. We, like every other group throughout the 80s and 90s, had rehearsed, done a concert and then recorded that programme before forgetting all about it and moving on to the next project. People like the Rolling Stones or Oasis or whoever, they record an album and then they go and tour it. It's pretty obvious, really.”

In a move that was to prove revolutionary for the classical world, Christophers acquired The Sixteen's back catalogue from Collins before establishing his own record label, Coro. “It was a major risk and a big undertaking. People said we were stark raving mad but, quite frankly, it was the best thing we ever did.”

Recording a group of works before taking that programme to cathedrals across the UK on their Choral Pilgrimage tour has won the ensemble a legion of loyal fans while similar choirs have looked on with envy. After nine years on the road now, touring is still clearly something that Christophers is passionate about: “It's about bringing this music to the right venue. When we do our tours, we go to the great cathedrals and bring the music of the Church back to these fantastic venues.”

But it is primarily the music that drives the conductor to keep performing. Having first fallen in love with the Renaissance when studying under experts in sixteenth century music at Oxford University, the works of Byrd, Palestrina, Monteverdi and Victoria still hold resonance for Christophers all these years on. “I'm very much someone who looks at the music of the sixteenth century like works of art really, not just the accompaniment to a sacred service – which of course they were in those days. Today we can look back at those composers as the great composers of their day. They were the Beethovens and the Mahlers of the sixteenth century. The fact that they had to write for the Church doesn't mean that they were any less good. So it's perfectly reasonable to look at that music again and start bringing it to a modern audience and bringing it into concert.”

This year's performances by The Sixteen will see them moving forward from the Renaissance period by a century or so to perform a selection of Bach cantatas for the Bach at Greyfriars festival as well as a production of Purcell's The Fairy-Queen, a restoration semi-opera based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Excitable as ever, Christophers enthuses about the music he will be performing with his choir and also The Sixteen's very own period orchestra – surely one of the only orchestras to be born out of a choir rather than the other way round. “I think what's fascinating for me—particularly with Bach and also with Purcell—is that to a lot of people who come to these concerts, the pieces sound modern because they're full of really extrovert and sometimes quite crazy musical ideas.

“We're presenting two composers who really changed the face of music. Composers today look at Bach's music and think that if they could dream up some of the orchestration and harmonies that Bach dared to they would feel pretty damn proud. But Bach was extraordinary in the way he wrote. One of the cantatas we're performing, some of the harmonies, you have to look twice at to actually believe, did he really do this? And then you have to have faith that Bach knew exactly what he wanted, he knew exactly what he was writing and we have to make it work.”

As one of classical music's biggest success stories, Christophers is inspirational for many young performers attempting to make their big break onto the scene. Does he have any advice? “It's a difficult world,” he says. “I think the main thing is that you've got to enjoy what you're doing. You don't go into the arts to make your millions. Never attempt to copy somebody else. Have your own ideas and don't be scared of doing something just because it might be crap. One of the first performances I did, looking back, was complete rubbish. But as long as you've got the courage to always think for yourself, always do what you believe in, that's the best way.”