Christopher Glynn

Christopher Glynn is a Grammy award-winning pianist, praised for his ‘breathtaking sensitivity‘ (Gramophone), ‘irrepressible energy, wit and finesse‘ (The Guardian), ‘perfect fusion of voice and piano‘ (BBC Music Magazine) and as a ‘visionary‘ and ‘inspired programmer‘ (The Times).

He is also Artistic Director of the Ryedale Festival, programming around sixty events every year in beautiful and historic venues across North Yorkshire.

Internationally acclaimed as a song accompanist, Christopher has appeared in recital with singers including Sir Thomas Allen, John Mark Ainsley, Benjamin Appl, Mary Bevan, Sophie Bevan, Claire Booth, Ian Bostridge, Susan Bullock, Harriet Burns, Allan Clayton, Dame Sarah Connolly, Lucy Crowe, Sophie Daneman, Joshua Ellicott, Bernarda Fink, Marta Fontanaals-Simmonds, Dame Emma Kirkby, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Christiane Karg, Jonas Kaufmann, Yvonne Kenny, Dame Felicity Lott, Christopher Maltman, Mark Padmore, Ian Partridge, Rowan Pierce, Joan Rodgers, Kate Royal, Kathryn Rudge, Nicky Spence, Toby Spence, Bryn Terfel, Sir John Tomlinson, Robin Tritschler, Ailish Tynan, Roderick Williams, Elizabeth Watts and many others.

Christopher has also performed with instrumentalists including Julian Bliss, Andrej Bielow, Adrian Brendel, Michael Collins, Nicholas Daniel, Matthew Gee, Daniel Hope, Steven Isserlis, Tamsin Waley-Cohen and Adam Walker; with ensembles including the Elias, Heath and Albion Quartets, London Winds, Britten Sinfonia and Scottish Chamber Orchestra; with choirs including The Sixteen; and on historic pianos with Rachel Podger (‘performances of supreme eloquence and style’ The Scotsman).

Christopher grew up in Leicester, read music at New College, Oxford, and studied piano with John Streets and Malcolm Martineau. His many awards include the accompaniment prize in the 2001 Kathleen Ferrier competition, the 2002 Geoffrey Parsons Award and the 2003 Gerald Moore Award. In 2021, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music.

Christopher is a frequent guest at major concert venues and festivals throughout the world, including Wigmore Hall (where he has curated several concert series), Carnegie Hall, Edinburgh, Aldeburgh, BBC Proms, Oxford Lieder and Leeds Lieder festivals, Royal Opera House, Barbican, Southbank Centre, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Vienna Konzerthaus, and as far afield as Japan, China, Brazil, Russia and Sri Lanka. He is regularly heard on BBC Radio 3 and has a wide discography, including ground-breaking recordings of music by Grainger, Grieg and Mussorgsky (with Claire Booth on Avie); Eric Coates and Hamilton Harty (with Kathryn Rudge on Somm); Michael Head, Stephen Dodgson and Donald Swann (Hyperion); and Mozart completions by Timothy Jones (with Rachel Podger on Channel Classics).

In 2015, Christopher founded Polyhymnia to bring classical song to a wider audience, initially by commissioning Jeremy Sams to create new English translations of Schubert’s song cycles. The Fair Maid of the Mill, Winter Journey and Swansong have been performed widely and recorded for Signum Records, while Roderick Williams and Chris also took Winter Journey on a nationwide schools tour. With Jeremy Sams, Christopher also created a new version of Hugo Wolf’s Italian Songbook, staged and sung in English (‘an utterly and unexpectedly disarming experience’ The Times *****), which has toured throughout the UK. Future Polyhymnia projects include Miracle Year, featuring all Schumann’s songs from 1840.

Christopher works regularly with young musicians and is a Professor at the Royal Academy of Music. He has been invited to lead masterclasses for the Samling Foundation and Britten Pears School and regularly adjudicates international competitions.

Away from the piano, Christopher is Artistic Advisor to the Richard Shephard Foundation, President of Chiltern Arts, a Trustee of Music in the Round and Vice-President of Music in Hospitals and Care.

Forthcoming plans including a tour of the USA with soprano Rowan Pierce, recitals and recording projects with Roderick Williams, Kathryn Rudge, Claire Booth and VOCES8, a world premiere by Eric Whitacre, and embarking on a project with Rachel Podger to perform and record (for Channel Classics) Beethoven’s Violin Sonatas.