Harry Christophers has conducted the Handel and Haydn Society each season since his first appearance in September 2006, when he led a soldout performance in the Esterházy Palace at the Haydn Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria. Held in the same location where Haydn lived and worked for nearly 40 years, this Austrian appearance marked the Society’s first in Europe. Handel and Haydn’s 2009-2010 Season was Christophers’ first as Artistic Director.

Christophers is known internationally as founder and conductor of the United Kingdom-based choir and period instrument ensemble The Sixteen, and as guest conductor for major symphony orchestras and opera companies. He has directed The Sixteen throughout Europe, America, and the Far East, gaining a distinguished reputation for his work in Renaissance, Baroque, and 20th century music. He has recorded close to 100 titles for which he has won numerous awards, including a Grand Prix du Disque for Handel Messiah, numerous Preise der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik (German Record Critics Awards), the coveted Gramophone Award for Early Music, and the prestigious Classical Brit Award (2005) for his disc entitled Renaissance. His CD, IKON, was nominated for a 2007 Grammy. In 2009 he received one of classical music’s highest accolades, the 2009 Classic FM Gramophone Awards Artist of the Year Award; The Sixteen also won the Baroque Vocal Award for Handel Coronation Anthems, a CD that also received a 2010 Grammy Award nomination.

In 2000, he instituted the “Choral Pilgrimage,” a tour of British cathedrals from York to Canterbury. The 2011 Choral Pilgrimage will celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Spanish born renaissance composer, Tomas Luis de Victoria and will tour to some twenty five venues in the UK.
In addition to his Handel and Haydn Society and The Sixteen commitments, Christophers is Principal Guest Conductor of the Granada Symphony Orchestra and also a regular guest conductor with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and the Orquestra de la Comunidad de Madrid. Within the last few years, he has conducted the Hallé, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the San Francisco Symphony.

Increasingly busy in opera, Christophers launched a Monteverdi cycle in 1998 with new productions for the Lisbon Opera of Il Ritorno d'Ulisse, following his success there with Gluck's Orfeo. In 2000, he conducted Mozart's Die Zauberflöte for the Lisbon Opera as well as Purcell's King Arthur and Rameau's Platée. Christophers made an acclaimed debut with English National Opera (ENO) conducting Monteverdi's The Coronation of Poppea, and has since conducted productions of Gluck's Orfeo and Handel's Ariodante at ENO as well as the UK premiere of Messager's Fortunio for Grange Park Opera. In 2006, Mozart's anniversary year, he conducted a new production of Mitridate for the Granada Festival. After the outstanding success of Handel's Semele and Hercules and Mozart's Ascanio in Alba at Buxton Opera, he returned in 2008 to conduct a highly successful new production of Handel's Samson.

In October 2008, Christophers was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Music from the University of Leicester. Most recently, he was elected an Honorary Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford and also of the Royal Welsh Academy for Music and Drama.