Christopher Glynn is a British classical pianist and festival director. He is especially known for his work as an accompanist with many leading singers and for his work as Artistic Director of the Ryedale Festival.

Biography

Born in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

, Christopher Glynn read music at New College, Oxford and studied piano with John Streets and Malcolm Martineau at the Royal Academy of Music. He has subsequently performed in recital with singers including Sir Thomas Allen, Ian Bostridge, Claire Booth,

Allan Clayton Allan James Clayton (1981) is a British tenor singer. Clayton was a chorister at Worcester Cathedral and a choral scholar in the Choir of St John's College, Cambridge. He was a BBC New Generation Artist from 2007-09 and winner of the Royal Ph ...

Sarah Connolly Dame Sarah Patricia Connolly (born 13 June 1963) is an English mezzo-soprano. Although best known for her Baroque music, baroque and Classical period (music), classical roles, Connolly has a wide-ranging repertoire which has included works by ...

Lucy Crowe Lucy Crowe is an English soprano in opera and concert. She has performed at international opera houses and music festivals such as the Glyndebourne Festival and Rheingau Musik Festival. Career Born in Staffordshire, England, Crowe studied v ...

Sophie Daneman Sophie Daneman is a British soprano specializing in the baroque repertoire. Biography Sophie Daneman, a daughter of the actor Paul Daneman, studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. She became known during the 1990s with t ...

Bernarda Fink Bernarda Fink (born 29 August 1955) is an Argentine mezzo-soprano. Born in Buenos Aires to Slovene parents who immigrated from Yugoslavia, Fink studied at the Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. She won First Prize at th ...

, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Christiane Karg, Jonas Kaufmann,

Yvonne Kenny Yvonne Kenny AM (born 25 November 1950) is an Australian soprano, particularly associated with Handel, Mozart and bel canto roles. Biography Born in Sydney, she first studied at the University of Sydney in science, hoping to become a biochemi ...

Emma Kirkby Dame Carolyn Emma Kirkby, (; born 26 February 1949) is an English soprano and early music specialist. She has sung on over 100 recordings. Education and early career Kirkby was educated at Hanford School, Sherborne School for Girls in Dors ...

Felicity Lott Dame Felicity Ann Emwhyla Lott, (born 8 May 1947) is an English soprano. Education Lott was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. From her earliest years she was musical, having started studying piano at age 5. She also played violin and bega ...

, Christopher Maltman, Ian Partridge,

Joan Rodgers Joan Rodgers C.B.E. (born 1956, Cleator Moor, Cumbria, England) is an English operatic soprano. She was married to the conductor Paul Daniel, and married Alan Samson in 2013. She studied singing with Audrey Langford. She made her professional oper ...

Kate Royal Kate Royal (born 1979) is an English lyric soprano. She is the daughter of Steve Royal, a singer and songwriter for television, and of Carolyn Royal, a former model and dancer. Royal was born in London and attended Talbot Heath School in Bournem ...

Nicky Spence Nicky Spence (born 1983) is a Scottish operatic tenor who performs in opera, oratorio and recital in both the UK and internationally. Life and career Spence was born and raised in Dumfries. He was educated at Wallace Hall Academy in Thornhi ...

, John Tomlinson, Bryn Terfel,

Ailish Tynan Ailish Tynan (born 1975) is an Irish operatic soprano. She was born in Mullingar, Ireland. Career Tynan trained at Trinity College Dublin, the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin, and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. In 2000, ...

and

Roderick Williams Roderick Gregory Coleman Williams OBE (born 1965) is a British baritone and composer. Biography Williams was born in North London to a Welsh father and a Jamaican mother. He attended Christ Church Cathedral School in Oxford and Haberdashers' ...

. Glynn also performs with many well known instrumentalists and chamber ensembles, and on period pianos and fortepianos with artists including Rachel Podger. He has also performed and recorded as a pianist with The Sixteen,

Voces8 Voces8, styled VOCES8, is an a cappella octet from England. They have appeared internationally and made recordings of classical music, jazz, pop, and their own arrangements. Recent recordings are for Decca Classics and under their own label, Voc ...

and

Eric Whitacre Eric Edward Whitacre (born January2, 1970) is an American composer, conductor, and speaker best known for his choral music. In March2016, he was appointed as Los Angeles Master Chorale's first artist-in-residence at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. ...

. Glynn performs internationally, appearing at venues such as Wigmore Hall,

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Op ...

, Aldeburgh Festival, Concertgebouw,

Barbican A barbican (from fro, barbacane) is a fortified outpost or fortified gateway, such as at an outer fortifications, defense perimeter of a city or castle, or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defensive purposes. Europe ...

Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames (between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge). It comprises three main performance venues (the Royal Festival Hall including the Nat ...

Vienna Konzerthaus The Konzerthaus is a concert hall located in Vienna, Austria, which opened in 1913. It is situated in the third district just at the edge of the first district in Vienna. Since it was founded it has always tried to emphasise both traditional and ...

and the BBC Proms. He is especially noted for his Lieder in English initiative, longstanding collaborations with singers including Roderick Williams and Claire Booth, and a series of recordings of neglected English song composers. He has also curated concert series and festivals for the Wigmore Hall,

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

and the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: *National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra *National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...

Awards

Glynn was awarded the accompaniment prize in the 2001 Kathleen Ferrier competition, the 2002 Geoffrey Parsons Award, the Silver Medal of the

Worshipful Company of Musicians The Worshipful Company of Musicians is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. Its history dates back to at least 1350. Originally a specialist guild for musicians, its role became an anachronism in the 18th century, when the centre of ...

, and the 2003 Gerald Moore Award. In 2012 he won a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

for his performance on the

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in We ...

Light and Gold album with

. In 2021 Glynn was made a Fellow of the

Ryedale Festival

Since 2010 Christopher Glynn has been Artistic Director of the Ryedale Festival, where he has been widely praised for the breadth and flair of his programming. He has also championed the role that regional festivals can play on the wider artistic stage.

Lieder in English

In 2015 Christopher Glynn initiated a Lieder in English project, reviving the art of translation to bring

art songs An art song is a Western world, Western vocal music Musical composition, composition, usually written for one voice with piano accompaniment, and usually in the classical music, classical art music tradition. By extension, the term "art song" is ...

and

Lieder In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French sp ...

to a broader audience. He commissioned Jeremy Sams to create new translations of Schubert's song cycles and later recorded them for

Signum Records Signum Records, also known as Signum Classics, is a classical musical record label in the UK founded in 1997. The label began with a project to make the first recording of the complete works of Thomas Tallis. The artists for the Tallis recordin ...

with singers including

, John Tomlinson and

. Subsequent projects have included translations of Hugo Wolf's

Italienisches Liederbuch (English: Italian songbook) is a collection of translations of anonymous Italian poems and folk songs into German by Paul Heyse Paul Johann Ludwig von Heyse (; 15 March 1830 – 2 April 1914) was a distinguished German writer and translator. ...

and song cycles by

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...

and Brahms. The project was described by The Telegraph as ‘quietly daring yet superbly accomplished’ and by The Guardian as ‘an unusually direct Lieder experience’

Recordings

Schubert in English Vol. 4: with Rowan Pierce and Roderick Williams

Schubert - The Fair Maid of the Mill: with Nicky Spence

Schubert - Swansong: with Sir John Tomlinson, Sophie Bevan, Julian Bliss and Alec Frank-Gemmill

Schubert - Winter Journey: with Roderick Williams

Mozart Violin Sonatas: with Rachel Podger

Beethoven Violin Sonatas: with Rachel Podger

Mussorgsky - Unorthodox Music: with Claire Booth

Grieg - Lyric Music: with Claire Booth

Grainger - Folk Music: with Claire Booth

The songs of Donald Swann: with Felicity Lott, Kathryn Rudge, John Mark Ainsley and Roderick Williams

Home: with Eric Whitacre and VOCES8

Songs by Eric Coates: with Kathryn Rudge

Songs by Hamilton Harty: with Kathryn Rudge

The songs of Elgar: with Julia Sitkovetsky

Martin Suckling - The Tuning: with Marta Fontanals-Simmons

The Peasant Poet: with Ailish Tynan, Katie Bray, James Gilchrist and Roderick Williams

The Distances Between: with Ailish Tynan, Katie Bray and Marcus Farnsworth

Songs of Michael Head: with Ailish Tynan, Catherine Wyn Rogers, Roderick Williams
(Hyperion CDA67899)
Brahms: Zigeunerlieder with Consortium and Andrew-John Smith
(Hyperion CDA67775) *
eger: Choral Music with Consortium and Andrew-John Smith
(Hyperion CDA67762)
Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem with The Sixteen (COR16050)
* The Ancient Question: with Hila Plitmann and Julian Bliss and Andras Kaljusutes (Signum SIGCD276) * Light and Gold: with Eric Whitacre and the Eric Whitacre singers (Decca)

References

External links

Artist website

Agent website

Ryedale Festival website

Hyperion records

Signum Records

Royal Academy of Music

Meet the artist - Christopher Glynn

Guardian article

Christopher Glynn performing with Kate Royal

Christopher Glynn performing with Roderick Wiliams
{{DEFAULTSORT:Glynn, Christopher 1974 births Living people Musicians from Leicester English classical pianists Male classical pianists Accompanists Artistic directors (music) Alumni of New College, Oxford Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Academics of the Royal College of Music Grammy Award winners 21st-century classical pianists 21st-century British male musicians