18 gpmf.org
Now in his 13
th
Season with the Grant
Park Music Festival,
Christopher
Bell
has served as Chorus Director
of the Grant Park Chorus since 2002.
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. In 2013,
Bell won the Michael Korn Founders
Award for Development of the
Professional Choral Art.
In addition to working with Grant Park,
Christopher Bell is the Chorus Master
of the Edinburgh Festival Chorus and
the Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Junior Chorus. Largely responsible for
the formation of the National Youth
Choir of Scotland in 1996, he has been
its Artistic Director ever since. The
National Youth Choir of Scotland has
toured to Sweden, Ireland, Chicago,
Hungary, Germany and Central
Europe, has won a prestigious Royal
Philharmonic Society Award, and
performed at the BBC Proms and
the Edinburgh International Festival
to great acclaim. 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. In 2009 he was appointed
Associate Conductor of the Ulster
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.
The position of Chorus Director is
partially underwritten by a generous
gift from Joyce Saxon.
christopher bell
