Conducting

Chris Gill gained a Bachelor of Music (Honours) at the University of Birmingham, specialising in conducting. In his final year, he attended the Canford Conducting Course with George Hirst and took part a Conducting Workshop with West Australian Symphony Orchestra. After graduating, he went on to study with Baldur Brönnimann on the RNCM Conducting Course. He has now built up an extensive repertoire, conducting over 200 performances with several orchestras, choirs and opera companies. He has worked with soloists such as Alison Balsom (Haydn Trumpet Concerto) and Carolyn Sampson (Mozart Vespers) and his performances have been broadcast on BBC television and radio.

Chris has conducted many orchestras, including the Lancashire Sinfonietta, City of Preston Orchestra, Isis Chamber Orchestra, Festival Orchestra of Manchester, Amaretti Chamber Orchestra, Harrogate Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham University Chamber Orchestra and Wind Ensemble, Stockport Symphony Orchestra, Burnley Symphony Orchestra and Rochdale Youth Orchestra, in venues such as the BBC Studios in Manchester, the Royal Northern College of Music, Preston Guild Hall and Blackpool Tower Ballroom. His orchestral repertoire includes Brahms Haydn Variations, Casella Scarlattiana, Dvořák New World Symphony and Slavonic Dances, Elgar Enigma Variations and Pomp and Circumstance Marches, Haydn Farewell Symphony and Trumpet Concerto, Mozart Symphony No.40 and Clarinet Concerto, Saint-Saëns Carnival of the Animals, Schumann Cello Concerto, Strauss Oboe Concerto and Stravinsky Petrouchka.

Chris is the Founder and Musical Director of Heritage Opera, a professional touring opera company touring across the UK, with whom he has conducted over 20 operas, including the world première of Jonathan Dove's Mansfield Park and the UK professional première of Moniuszko's Halka. He has also appeared as a Musical Director for Grimeborn Festival, Flatpack Music, Opera Anywhere, City of Manchester Opera, Preston Opera, Birmingham University Summer Festival Opera, and the Una Voce Opera Company and as Assistant Conductor at Longborough Festival Opera and Oxford Opera. He has translated and conducted Mozart Le nozze di Figaro and Così fan tutte, and has co-translated and conducted Tchaikovsky Eugene Onegin. Other operatic repertoire includes Bizet Carmen; Britten The Turn of the Screw; Donizetti L'elisir d'amore and La fille du régiment; Mozart Die Zauberflöte; Mascagni Cavalleria rusticana, Puccini La bohème, Madama Butterfly and Tosca, Purcell Dido and Aeneas, Rossini Il barbiere di Siviglia, Saint-Saëns Samson and Deliliah; Strauss Die Fledermaus; Sullivan Trial by Jury and HMS Pinafore; and Verdi La traviata.

Chris has conducted many choirs and choral societies, including Preston Cecilian Choral Society, Bury Choral Society, Burnley Choral Society, Birmingham University Chamber Choir and Liturgical Choir, Clitheroe Chorale, the A Capella Singers and Interlude Choir in Normandy, France. He has led choral workshops for Preston Arts Festival, Accrington and Rossendale College and Swan Hellenic Cruises. His extensive choral repertoire includes Brahms German Requiem, Britten Ceremony of Carols, Dvořák Te Deum, Fauré Requiem, Handel Messiah and Coronation Anthems, Haydn Marie Therese Mass and Nelson Mass, Mendelssohn Elijah, Mozart Mass in C minor and Requiem, Orff Carmina Burana, Parry Blest Pair of Sirens, Puccini Messa di Gloria, Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem, In Windsor Forest and Serenade to Music, and Vivaldi Gloria. He was the choirmaster for Beethoven Choral Symphony with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under Vladimir Ashkenazy.

Reviews

'Versatile conducting, which nursed out beautifully graded, subtle detail' Opera Now

'A thoughtful choral and orchestral conductor and a self-demanding, determined factotum.' Opera

'A capable and enabling conductor ... formed into a strong, distinctive and coherent ensemble.' Opera Now

Repertoire

Orchestral

Arnold Suite No. 1 for Orchestra

Beethoven Egmont Overture*

Beethoven Symphony No. 1 *

Beethoven Symphony No. 3*

Beethoven Symphony No. 5*

Beethoven Symphony No. 9*

Brahms Symphony No. 1*

Brahms Hungarian Dances

Brahms Haydn Variations

Casella Scarlattiana

Dvořák New World Symphony

Dvořák Slavonic Dances

Elgar Enigma Variations

Elgar Pomp and Circumstance Marches Nos. 1 and 4

Elgar Serenade for Strings

Fauré Sicilienne

Fauré Pavane

Handel Water Music

Haydn Farewell Symphony

Haydn Surprise Symphony*

Haydn Trumpet Concerto

Mozart Clarinet Concerto

Mozart Serenade for 13 Wind Instruments

Mozart Symphony No. 40

Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition*

Saint-Saëns Carnival of the Animals

Schumann Cello Concerto

Smetana Vltava

R Strauss Oboe Concerto

R Strauss Also Sprach Zarasthustra*

Stravinsky Petrouchka*

Stravinsky Four Russian Songs

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6*

Choral

Bach Jesu, meine Freunde

Bach Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme

Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem

Britten Ceremony of Carols

Britten Hymn to St Cecilia

Britten Hymn to the Virgin

Bruckner Four Motets

Dvořák Te Deum

Elgar Te Deum and Benedictus

Fauré Requiem

Fauré Cantique de Jean Racine

Grieg Ave Maris Stella

Grieg Four Psalms

Handel Messiah

Handel Coronation Anthems

Haydn Marie Therese Mass

Haydn Nelson Mass

Mendelssohn Elijah

Monteverdi Beatus Vir

Mozart Ave Verum

Mozart Exsultate jubilate

Mozart Jubilate Deo

Mozart Mass in C minor

Mozart Requiem

Mozart Tantum ergo

Mozart Vespers

Orff Carmina Burana

Parry Blest Pair of Sirens

Puccini Messa di Gloria

Purcell Ode on St Cecilia's Day

Purcell Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary

Schubert Mass in G

Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem

Vaughan Williams In Windsor Forest

Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music

Vaughan Williams Three Shakespeare Songs

Vaughan Williams Toward the Unknown Region

Vierne Mass for choir and two organs

Vivaldi Gloria

Operatic

Bellini Norma*

Bizet Carmen

Britten The Turn of the Screw

Donizetti La fille du régiment

Donizetti L’elisir d’amore

Humperdinck Hänsel und Gretel

Lehár Die Lustige Witwe*

Mascagni Cavalleria rusticana

Menotti Amahl and the Night Visitors

Mozart Idomeneo*

Mozart Così fan tutte

Mozart Don Giovanni

Mozart Le nozze di Figaro

Mozart Die Zauberflöte

Pepusch (arr.) The Beggar's Opera

Puccini La bohème

Puccini Madama Butterfly

Puccini Tosca

Purcell Dido and Aeneas

J Strauss Die Fledermaus

Sullivan HMS Pinafore

Sullivan Trial by Jury

Tchaikovsky Eugene Onegin

Verdi La Forza del Destino*

Verdi Aïda*

Verdi Nabucco*

Verdi Il trovatore*

Verdi La traviata

* excerpts