The Sixteen

Whether performing a simple medieval hymn or expressing the complex musical and emotional language of a contemporary choral composition, the Sixteen does so with qualities common to all great ensembles: Tonal warmth, rhythmic precision, and immaculate intonation are clearly essential to the mix, but it is the courage and intensity with which the Sixteen makes music that speaks above all to so many people.

Celebrating its 45th anniversary last year, the Sixteen gave its first concert in 1979 under the direction of founder and conductor Harry Christophers, CBE. The group's pioneering work since then has made a profound impact on the performance of choral music and attracted a large new audience, not least as "The Voices of Classic FM" and through BBC television’s "Sacred Music" series.

The voices and period-instrument players of the Sixteen are at home in more than five centuries of music — a breadth reflected in their annual choral pilgrimage to Britain’s great cathedrals and sacred spaces, regular appearances at the world’s leading concert halls, and award-winning recordings for the Sixteen’s CORO label and others.

Recent highlights include the world premiere of James MacMillan’s Stabat Mater (at the Barbican in 2016 and live-streamed from the Sistine Chapel in 2018) and his Fifth Symphony, Le grand inconnu (2019 Edinburgh International Festival and Lincoln Center, New York), both commissioned for Harry Christophers and the Sixteen by the Genesis Foundation. Other notable projects include an ambitious ongoing series of Handel oratorios, extensive tours of the U.S. and the Netherlands, and a specially commissioned series of programs presented by Sir Simon Russell Beale, A Choral Odyssey.