Christopher Gillett made his Covent Garden debut in 1984 at the age of 25, and has sung many roles for the Royal Opera, English National Opera and Glyndebourne Opera.
He has performed extensively abroad, particularly for the Netherlands Opera where he has just performed Les Troyens. Recent appearances have also included debuts with the Berlin Philharmonic and the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras and opera engagements in Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Madrid and La Scala.
Christopher’s key operatic roles include Arnalta L’incoronazione di Poppea, Flute A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Basilio Le nozze di Figaro, Arbace Idomeneo, Triquet Eugene Onegin, Vicar Peter Grimes, Sheperd Oedipus Rex and Sellem The Rake’s Progress. In addition to the classical repertoire Christopher has sung in many operatic world premieres: Rosa, a horse opera (Andriesson/Greenaway), Broken Strings/Snatched by the Gods (Vir), Gassir the hero (Loevendie), Alice (Knaifel), for Netherlands Opera, A King Riding (de Vries), La Monnaie, Brussels, and TEA (Tan Dun) in Suntory Hall, Tokyo. He has performed in national premieres of Die Soldaten (Zimmerman, ENO), Die Wände (Hölsky, Frankfurt Opera) and What Next? (Carter, London Sinfonietta). Other 20th century roles include Dov The Knot Garden (ROH), Aschenbach Death in Venice (Genova), and Toni Elegy for Young Lovers (Amsterdam). Baroque performances include Scarlatti’s Il Telemaco (Opera de Nice), Provenzale’s La Stellidaura Vendicante (La Monnaie) and Cavalli’s La Didone (Lausanne and Montpellier). Recently he has performed Nutrice L’Incoronazione di Poppea in Amsterdam and Los Angeles, Pisandro Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Amsterdam, Antwerp, Lisbon, Sydney and New York and Flute A Midsummer Night’s Dream at La Scala, and Dr Atomic at the ENO.
Christopher is a noted interpreter of Bach: the Evening Standard describing his Evangelist as “dramatic, sincere and utterly riveting”. He has sung the Evangelist in the Bach Choir’s annual performances of the St Matthew Passion in the RFH and in the Birmingham Symphony Hall for many times as well as for the London Mozart Players, with King’s College Choir in Cambridge and at Cadogan Hall. As well as several Proms appearances, concert performances have included Henze’s Voices with Oliver Knussen at the QEH and the Concertgebouw, Britten’s Nocturne with Knussen and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Peter Grimes with the LSO and Sir Colin Davis in New York, Maderna’s Venetian Journal with the ASKO ensemble, On Wenlock Edge in France for Les Journées Ravel and Andriesson’s De Materie conducted by Reinbert de Leeuw in New York. He has sung Britten’s War Requiem in Buenos Aires, Amsterdam, Stuttgart, Taipei, Brno and Bratislava.
Recent performances include Holst
Savitri with the Rundfunk Chor, Berlin, Berlioz’
Te Deum with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Finzi’s
Dies Natalis, Britten
St Nicholas and
Elijah with Northern Sinfonia, Henze
Voices and Birtwistle
The Mask of Orpheus at the BBC Proms, Flute
A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Reggio Emilia and in Bari, Italy, Vaughan Williams Hodie at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Britten’s
Serenade for tenor, horn and strings for the Kymi Sinfonietta, Finland, Britten’s
Les Illuminations with the RPO in Germany and with the Ensemble Symphonique de Neuchâtel, Sellem
The Rake’s Progress with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and concerts with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.
He is currently performing Le nozze di Figaro at the Royal Opera House with Sir Colin Davis and future plans include Elgar Light of Life with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra.
On CD/DVD, Christopher has recorded the title roles in Albert Herring and The Martyrdom of St Magnus to great acclaim, as well as roles in Billy Budd, The Beggar’s Opera, Peter Grimes, and operas by Oliver Knussen and Tan Dun. He has also filmed Britten’s The Journey of the Magi with Pierre Audi.
Christopher Gillett is represented by Intermusica.
July 2010 / 601 words. Not to be altered without permission. Please destroy all previous biographical material.
Louis Andriessen De Materie
Schönberg Ensemble / De Doelen, Rotterdam / cond. Reinbert de Leeuw
“In the other parts the soloist sounded much better: with the almost hysterical tessitura, tenor Christopher Gillett delivered a beautiful counterpoint to the amplified, choppy ensemble.”
Trouw, June 2008
“Tenor Christopher Gillett held himself in good standing as the 17th century philosopher amongst the excessive blows dealt by the ensemble.”
Volskrant, June 2008
“..the agile voice of the tenor Christopher Gillett....”
De Telegraaf, June 2008
Evangelist, Bach St Matthew Passion
English Chamber Orchestra, Birmingham Symphony Hall
"Christopher Gillett as the gripping Evangelist... particularly outstanding.”
Birmingham Post, March 2008
Arnalta in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea
English National Opera / cond. Laurence Cummings / dir. Chen Shi-Zheng
"Christopher Gillett sang with model clarity and displayed a lovely pair of pins in the cross-dressing role of Arnalta."
Richard Morrison, The Times, October 2007
"Christopher Gillett's drag Arnalta turns the lullaby into the evening's musical high-water mark"
Andrew Clark, Financial Times, October 2007
Arnalta in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea
LA Opera/ cond. Harry Bicket/ dir. Pierre Audi
"Christopher Gillett proved wonderfully sympathetic in drag as Poppea's old nurse, Arnalta. You wouldn't think you could do "camp" without overdoing "camp," but Gillett manages the trick, thanks in part to his strong and seductive tenor"
LA Downtown News, December 2006
Henze Voices with London Sinfonietta at the BBC Proms / cond. Oliver Knussen
"a blistering performance…Christopher Gillett was the elegant tenor soloist."
Tim Ashley, The Guardian, August 2006
"Christopher Gillett gave a committed and often sensitive performance - his singing in the Richard W. Thomas poem The Worker was intensely moving."
Ben Hogwood, MusicOMH.com, August 2006
"Christopher Gillett is a rising star in the performance of 20th-century music. His precise, mellifluous delivery was perfectly suited to the many numbers that draw to a greater or lesser extent on the German Lied tradition."
Steve Lomas, ClassicalSource.com, August 2006
"Soloists Mary King and Christopher Gillett could not be faulted for commitment and characterization."
Nick Kimberley, The Evening Standard, August 2006
"The vocalists themselves, Mary King and Christopher Gillett, have to do everything that any self-respecting performer of the 1960s always had to do: speak, shout, scream and sing. Words twanged against the tense rhythms of guitar and accordion as Gillett took on Brecht. Both soloists rhapsodised in Hans Magnus Enzensberger's final love-fest, Carnival of Flowers."
Hilary Finch, The Times, August 2006
Britten Nocturne for Tenor and Chamber Orchestra
Philadelphia Orchestra / cond. Oliver Knussen
“There are many vocal pleasures from tenor Christopher Gillett’s well-enunciated reading and dignified emotionalism.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer , November 2003
Title role in Britten Albert Herring
Northern Sinfonia / cond. Steuart Bedford
(re-released on Naxos 8 660107/8, recorded on Collins Classics 70422 in 1997
“Bedford’s lively set is a delight. It has the advantage of a winning young Albert in Christopher Gillett, vulnerable and touching.”
Richard Fairman, Gramophone, June 2003
Evangelist in Bach St Matthew Passion
Bach Choir / Florilegium / cond. David Hill
“Christopher Gillett’s dramatic but sincere interpretation of the Evangelist was utterly riveting.”
Brian Hunt, Evening Standard, April 2003
Knussen Canticum Sacrum
BBC National Orchestra of Wales / cond. Joseph Swensen
“Soloists Christopher Gillett and David Wilson-Johnson had their own forthright splendour.”
Geoff Brown, The Times, August 2001
Britten War Requiem
Radio Filharmonisch Orkest
“Together with the baritone Quentin Hayes, Christopher Gillett forms a moving unity, especially in the final movement.”
Door Mischa Spel, NEL, June 2001
“Gillett sings with much feeling and empathy, especially in “Move him into the sun”.”
Peter van der Lint, Trouw, June 2001
Henze Voices
London Sinfonietta / cond. Oliver Knussen
“Soloists Fiona Kimm and Christopher Gillett ensured that each setting was a succinct, self-contained drama.”
Tom Service, The Guardian, March 2001
Evangelist in Bach St Matthew Passion
The Bach Choir / cond. David Hill
“As Evangelist, Christopher Gillett’s tenor proved to be a dramatic asset.”
Nicholas Williams, The Independent, April 2000
Britten War Requiem
Stuttgarter Philharmoniker / cond. Helmuth Rilling
“Gillett took the comtemporary relevance of the poems as an occasion for an astonishing performance.”
Jürgen Leukel, Stuttgart Zeitung, October 1999
Arbace in Mozart Idomeneo
Opera Northern Ireland / cond. Stephen Barlow / dir. Harry Silverstein
“Christopher Gillett’s fine Arbace was rewarded with his (often omitted) aria.”
Elizabeth Forbes, Opera Now, January / February 1998
Title role in Britten Albert Herring
Northern Sinfonia / cond. Steuart Bedford
(recorded on Collins Classics 70422, re-released on Naxos 8 660107/8)
“The cast is carefully chosen. Christopher Gillett is an impressive Albert with an inner strength that makes his rebellion credible.”
Michael Kennedy, Sunday Telegraph, December 1997
These are featured projects related to Christopher Gillett:
Highlights
CHRISTOPHER GILLETT
2009/10 HIGHLIGHTS
• 25 October 2009 Flute in Britten A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Fondazione Petruzzelli e Teatri di Bari, Cond. Jonathan Webb / Dir. Daniele Abbado (also 27, 29 October; 5 & 6 November)
• 18 December 2009 Vaughan Williams Hodie, NPS Zaterdamatinee, Cond. James Judd (also 20 December)
• 15 January 2010 Britten Les Illuminations, Neuchâtel Symphony Orchestra, Cond. Pierre-Alain Monot...