Christopher Edward de Souza (born 6 June 1943) is an English composer, teacher, music director, broadcaster, opera producer and author. He has presented programmes on

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

, Radio 4 and World Service.

Education and career

Chris de Souza is a graduate in music from

Bristol University , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

(1966) and a graduate of the Directors' Course of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He has worked in the media as a Theatre director, Radio Music producer and presenter. Head of Music at

St Bernadette Catholic Secondary School St Bernadette Catholic Secondary School is a coeducational Catholic, voluntary aided secondary school in Whitchurch, a suburb in the south of Bristol, England. It is located next to St Bernadette Catholic Primary School and the local parish chu ...

in Bristol from 1966 to 1970, he went on to become a Producer with Sadlers Wells/English National Opera in 1971. From then on De Souza produced over 100 operas around the world, among which the soundtrack for the fireworks display in the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II. Since 1966 he wrote and performed several compositions like ''8 Epithalamia for Organ'', ''Maharajahs'', ''The Ides of March'', ''Children of the Light''. In 1977 he devised the Liszt Festival of London editing and directing the first modern performance of

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

's opera ''

Don Sanche ''Don Sanche, ou Le château de l'amour'' ( en, Don Sanche, or The Castle of Love), S.1, is an opera in one act composed in 1824–25 by Franz Liszt in his early teen years, with French libretto by Théaulon and de Rancé, based on a story by ...

''. As a composer his music has been widely broadcast and performed, with recent commissions from the BBC, Southern Sinfonia, West Berkshire Maestros and the Lymington Choral Society. In 1975 he joined the

BBC Radio London BBC Radio London is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving Greater London and its surrounding areas. The station broadcasts across the area and beyond, on the 94.9 FM broadcasting, FM frequency, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, ...

becoming the BBC first Proms Producer in 1987. He presented Radio London's arts programme ''Look Stop Listen'', ''Performance on 3'' (with Humphrey Burton) and ''Discovering Music'' on

and Sky Digital. As a presenter his own programme ''Tuning Up'', focusing on young musicians, won a Silver Medal at the New York Radio Festival in 1992. He has also presented on TV,

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

, and broadcasts classical channels for many airlines. For 25 years, he has presented the Classical Channel on Emirates, and most recently presented the opera broadcasts on CNBCTV. De Souza is an author of classical music guides like ''Looking at music'', ''Listening to Music'', ''The Kingfisher Young People's Book of Music'', and wrote articles to The Listener, Music and Musicians, Musical Time and other magazines. As narrator he appears in works like Peter and the Wolf and The Carnival of the Animals, of which he performed his own version in the presence of HRH Princess Alexandra. Recent compositions include ''Bottom's Dream'' commissioned for the BBC Singers, a Trombone Concerto commissioned by Southern Sinfonia, and ''Loved and Unloved'' for the Lymington Choral Society. He is a music teacher and works with many children's theatre groups. He was adjudicator at the Repton School music competitions in March 1984. From 1986 to 1999 he was a member of the British Youth Opera. He is also the

Artistic Director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...

of Southern Sinfonia in Newbury, a member of the Royal Society of Musicians and of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. De Souza took over from Ann Wright as conductor of Cranford Choral Society, Wallingford, Oxfordshire in 2015. He now works at the Dolphin School, Berkshire, teaching Latin and classical history, as well as at Bradfield College, where he teaches music.

Awards and nominations

De Souza has adjudicated for the BBC Young Musician of the Year award, the Royal Over-Seas League, and the Newbury Young Musician of the Year and chairs the Parkhouse Award for

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

. As a record producer, he was nominated at the

2000 Grammy Awards The 42nd Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 23, 2000, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1999. Nominations were announced on January 4, 2000. Santana was the main r ...

for '' Powder Her Face''.

Personal life

De Souza lives in Boxford, Berkshire, with his wife and two sons Tristan and Sebastian de Souza.

References

External links

Chris de Souza
at the Southern Sinfonia Official Site
Esq Christopher de Souza
at Debrett's {{DEFAULTSORT:De Souza, Chris 1943 births Living people English composers English writers British music educators English theatre directors British radio personalities British television directors British people of Goan descent Classical music radio presenters Members of the Royal Society of Musicians BBC people Alumni of the University of Bristol Alumni of Bristol Old Vic Theatre School