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2 0 1 6 G R AN T PA R K MU S I C F E S T I VA L
Now in his 15th 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
ApprenticeChorale
made up of young singers
from local universities. Bell prepares the
Festival’s choral programs and conducts the
Orchestra’s Independence Day Salute, which
will feature the 110-voice National Youth Choir
of Scotland alongside the Chicago Youth
Symphony Orchestras at the Jay Pritzker
Pavilion on July 4. Later that month, Bell will take the Grant Park Chorus on the road
with
Shakespeare in the Park
, a concert of
a cappella
choral songs and settings of
The Bard’s verse, as part of
Shakespeare 400 Chicago
. Performances will be held at
the Columbus Park Refectory on July 24 and at the South Shore Cultural Center on
July 26.
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 his work with the Festival, 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 SocietyAward, andperformed at theBBCProms and
the Edinburgh International Festival to great acclaim. Bell was awarded an Honorary
Doctorate inMusic from the Royal Conservatoire in Scotland in 2012, in recognition of
his contribution to performing arts in Scotland. In 2015, he was awarded an Honorary
Doctor of Music from the University of Aberdeen.
Born in Belfast, 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 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
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