Artistic
Director - Christopher Bell
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Belfast born Christopher Bell is currently Chorus Director of the Grant Park Music Festival, Chicago USA, Chorusmaster of the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, Artistic Director of the National Youth Choir of Scotland, Chorusmaster of the Belfast Philharmonic Choir and Royal Scottish National Orchestra Junior Chorus and Artistic Director of Children’s Classic Concerts.
Having read Music at Edinburgh University, Christopher Bell’s first post was as Associate Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra from 1989 to 1991. Since then he has worked with many of the major orchestras in the UK and Eire, including the Royal Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, City of London Sinfonia, London Concert, Royal Scottish National, BBC Scottish Symphony, Scottish Chamber, Ulster, RTE National Symphony, RTE Concert and Bournemouth Symphony. Overseas his work has included concerts with the Duisberg Symphony Orchestra (with cellist Raphael Wallfisch), Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonie of Essen.
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Between 1989 and 2002 Christopher Bell was Chorusmaster of the RSNO, and led the Chorus on tour to Hong Kong, Israel, Australia and Belfast. He was also the first Artistic Director of the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union. Professional chorus work has included appearances with the Netherlands Radio Choir, the Grant Park Chorus in Chicago, and the Opera Australia Melbourne Chorus, with which he has made recordings.
Operatic engagements have included seasons of Tosca and West Side Story for Opera Northern Ireland, Tosca for Dublin Grand Opera Society and later West Australian Opera, and Turandot, Nabucco, Pilgrim’s Progress, Aida, Carmen and Cav & Pag for Edinburgh Grand Opera. For the Scottish Chamber Orchestra he conducted West Side Story, Porgy and Bess and Carmen. In 1997 he conducted Eugene Onegin with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra for Wellington City Opera.
Christopher Bell enjoys working with young people. Before his current posts with the RSNO Junior Chorus and the National Youth Choir of Scotland, he directed the TOTAL Aberdeen Youth Choir, undertaking touring and recordings as well as many concerts, and the Strathclyde Schools Symphony Orchestra. Between 1999 and 2004 he was founder and Artistic Director of the Ulster Youth Choir. Other youth concerts have included Yo Yo Ma’s Children’s Concert at the Barbican in 1995, and Britten’s War Requiem co-conducted with Rostropovich on tour with the European Community Youth Orchestra. In 2005 he conducted two concerts with the RSNO as part of the second international Tapestry Conference held in Glasgow.
In 1997 Christopher Bell spent several months in Australia and New Zealand as part of the British Council’s New Images project, a tour which led to many return invitations to work in both countries and his appointment as Principal Guest Conductor of the State Orchestra of Victoria between 1998 and 2000. Much of his additional work in Australia had been with students, including the orchestras of the Victorian College of Arts and the Sydney Conservatorium, and in New Zealand he conducted the Wellington Sinfonia, Dunedin Sinfonia and New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. He was invited to work with the Auckland Philharmonia in three consecutive seasons.
Christopher Bell’s talents as a presenter have been widely appreciated, and since 1994 he has each year presented and conducted the RSNO series of Christmas concerts, with both RSNO choruses and the orchestra. He conducts and presents most of the very popular Children’s Classic Concerts, as well as devising the programmes, and has conducted and presented many concerts with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the Ulster Orchestra. For the last five years he has conducted and presented Chicago’s Independence Eve concert, this year broadcast across the USA on Fox Television.
A visit to Norway in 2001 led to invitations to conduct Haydn’s Stabat Mater with the Norwegian Radio Symphony Orchestra in November 2002 and Creation in November 2004.
The 2005 summer season programme in Chicago included programmes of Baltic Music with the Grant Park Chorus and performances of Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and Holst Planets as well as numerous outreach and children’s concerts. In 2006 he conducted Carmina Burana and Rachmaninov Vespers with the Grant Park Chorus. With the Philharmonic Choir and the Ulster Orchestra he has performed the music of Alan Hovhannes (November 2005) Mozart Requiem in 2006, and in 2007 Elijah.
Concerts in summer 2007 included Grant Park performances of MacMillan Cantos Sagrados, Duruflé Requiem, and an a-cappella programme of American music. In addition NYCoS toured to Hungary.
The RSNO and Chorus recording of Joan of Arc Mass received a GRAMMY nomination in 1999. For his work with singers, and particularly his encouragement of young singers in Scotland, Christopher Bell was awarded a Scotsman of the Year 2001 award for Creative Talent. In 2003, he was awarded the Charles Groves Prize for his contribution to cultural life in Scotland and the rest of the UK. |
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