His recital partners have included Sir Thomas Allen, John Mark Ainsley, Benjamin Appl, Mary Bevan, Sophie Bevan, Julian Bliss, Claire Booth, Ian Bostridge, Adrian Brendel, Allan Clayton, Dame Sarah Connolly, Hugh Cutting, Sophie Daneman, Veronika Eberle, Bernarda Fink, James Gilchrist, Steven Isserlis, Dame Emma Kirkby, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Jonas Kaufmann, Dame Felicity Lott, Christopher Maltman, Mark Padmore, Ian Partridge, Rowan Pierce, Joan Rodgers, Kate Royal, Kathryn Rudge, Nicky Spence, Michael Spyres, Bryn Terfel, Sir John Tomlinson, Robin Tritschler, Ailish Tynan, Elizabeth Watts, Tamsin Waley-Cohen, Roderick Williams and many others.
He also performs with many leading chamber ensembles; with choirs including The Sixteen, VOCES8 and the Eric Whitacre Singers; with actors such as Simon Russell Beale, Antonio Banderas, Alex Jennings and Tamsin Greig; and on historic pianos with artists including Rachel Podger, with whom he has recorded Mozart and Beethoven sonatas (‘performances of supreme eloquence and style’ – The Scotsman).
Recent highlights include performances in Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, Edinburgh and Aldeburgh Festivals, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Vienna Konzerthaus, Royal Opera House, Barbican, Southbank Centre, BBC Proms, Musée D’Orsay, Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Munich, Tokyo, Brussels, São Paulo, Madrid, San Francisco, and tours to Japan, USA, Canada, Brazil, China and South Asia.
Chris grew up in Leicester, read music at New College, Oxford, and studied piano with John Streets and Malcolm Martineau. He was awarded the accompaniment prize in the 2001 Kathleen Ferrier competition, the 2002 Geoffrey Parsons Award, the Silver Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, and the 2003 Gerald Moore Award.
He is regularly heard on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM and has recorded many acclaimed and ground-breaking albums for labels including Signum, Hyperion, Decca, DG, Coro, Chandos and Somm. He has premiered works by many leading composers and collaborated with a wide variety of organisations from the Richard Alston Dance Company to Streetwise Opera.
Future plans include a series of concerts for the Wigmore Hall, tours of North America and China, and performances and recording projects with Roderick Williams, Kathryn Rudge, Claire Booth, Harriet Burns, Nick Pritchard, Eric Whitacre, Rowan Pierce, Lucy Schaufer, the Maxwell Quartet, James Newby, Fleur Barron, Natalya Romaniw, Mathilde Milwidsky, Nicky Spence, VOCES8, John Suchet and Rachel Podger.
Chris combines his performing life with the role of Artistic Director at the Ryedale Festival.
Described by The Times as a ’visionary’ and ‘inspired programmer’, he has also been praised by Opera Now for ‘quality artistic direction and an inclusive rather than exclusive approach to audiences’ and by The Guardian for the ‘real flair in his programming’.
He has forged partnerships between the festival and a wide range of organisations, commissioned around sixty new works, brought the festival to a national audience through broadcasts on BBC Radio 3, involved hundreds of local and amateur performers in community projects, and established a strong tradition for supporting early-career artists. He has also championed the role that local and regional classical music festivals can play on the wider artistic stage.
Shortlisted twice for Best UK Concert Series at the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards (in 2020 and 2023) where it was praised for an ‘extraordinary breadth of programming’ and the way it ‘always wraps its arms around its community’, the festival has been described by Classical Music as ‘inspirational: the kind of life-illuminating venture audiences chase but rarely find...with some of the best ideas of any festival I know’.
Chris’s pioneering Lieder in English project has brought classical song to many new listeners and been described by The Telegraph as ‘quietly daring yet superbly accomplished’, by The Guardian as ‘an unusually direct Lieder experience’, and by The Scotsman as having ‘done more to make music accessible than any number of Arts Council initiatives.’
For the Wigmore Hall, Chris has devised and presented several concert series at the invitation of John Gilhooly, including the complete songs of Ravel and the song cycles of Schubert. He has also directed festivals at the National Portrait Gallery and the Royal Academy of Music, and curated projects for Streetwise Opera, York Concerts and a wide variety of international festivals.
Chris works extensively with young musicians and gives masterclasses throughout Europe and Asia. He is also often invited to adjudicate international competitions.
In 2021, Chris was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music. He is also a Vice -President of Music in Hospitals and Care, a member of the Advisory Council of Helmsley Arts Centre, President of Chiltern Arts, a Trustee of Music in the Round, and Artistic Advisor to several organisations.
During the pandemic, he was involved in setting up the Richard Shephard Music Foundation, which brings music opportunities to hundreds of primary school children in Ryedale, Scarborough and Middlesborough.
Away from music-making, Chris has three children, lives in London with his partner Jo, and likes books, pubs and mountains.