Now in his 12th season with the Grant
Park Music Festival,
Christopher
Bell
has served as Chorus Director
of the Grant Park Chorus since 2001.
Bell oversees a chorus of more than
100
singers, along with the Apprentice
Chorale made up of young singers
from local universities. Bell prepares all
of the Festival’s choral programs, and
conducts the orchestra and chorus for
several concerts each season.
During his tenure he and the chorus
have been recipients of the coveted
Margaret Hillis Award for Choral
Excellence given by Chorus America
as well as glowing reviews from both
critics and audiences alike. This year,
Christopher Bell is the winner of the
Michael Korn Founders Award for
Development of the Professional Art.
In addition to working with Grant
Park, Christopher Bell is the Chorus
Master of the Edinburgh Festival
Chorus, the Royal Scottish National
Orchestra Junior Chorus, and the
Belfast Philharmonic Choir. Largely
responsible for the formation of the
National Youth Choir of Scotland in
1996,
he has been its Artistic Director
ever since, conducting them in a
highly successful BBC Proms debut in
July 2006. In 2012, Bell was awarded
an Honorary Doctor of Music from
the Royal Conservatoire in Scotland
in recognition of his contribution to
performing arts in Scotland.
Born in Belfast, Mr. Bell was educated
at Edinburgh University and held his
first post as Associate Conductor of
the BBC Scottish Symphony. Since
then, he has worked with many of the
major orchestras in the UK and Ireland,
including the Royal Philharmonic,
London Philharmonic, Royal Scottish
National, BBC Scottish Symphony,
Ulster Orchestra, Scottish Chamber,
City of London Sinfonia, London
Concert, RTE National Symphony,
RTE Concert and the Bournemouth
Symphony. He conducted the Ulster
Orchestra in a special program for BBC
television, which was broadcast in the
spring of 2007.
Christopher Bell was Chorus Master of
the Royal Scottish National Orchestra
between 1989 and 2002 and was the
first Artistic Director of the Edinburgh
Royal Choral Union. He has conducted
the Netherlands Radio Choir and the
Opera Australia Melbourne Chorus,
and recently made his debut with the
Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
He is well-known for his abilities to
work with young musicians. Before his
current posts with the RSNO Junior
Chorus and the National Youth Choir
of Scotland, he was the founding
conductor of the Ulster Youth Choir
and director of the TOTAL Aberdeen
Youth Choir for six years.
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gpmf.org
Photo: Norman Timonera
The position of Chorus Director is
partially underwritten by a generous
gift from Joyce Saxon.
christopher bell
