The Washington Chorus is thrilled to announce that Christopher Bell will join the organization as Artistic Director beginning in the 2017/18 Season. Bell will replace Julian Wachner, who is stepping down after ten seasons. Bell’s appointment after a nearly year-long search process involving an international slate of candidates represents a continuing legacy of top-tier musical leadership for The Washington Chorus. An accomplished and highly regarded conductor both in his home of Scotland and around the world, Bell plans to move to Washington to begin working with The Washington Chorus and implementing his long-range plans for the group.
Within the United States, Bell has served as Chorus Director of the Grant Park Music Festival Chorus in Chicago since 2002. Up to 120 professional singers undertake six programs during the summer with a repertoire spanning the masterworks to contemporary American music. In 2006, he founded the Festival’s Apprentice Chorale, a program that he continues to lead today, providing advanced training and performance opportunities for pre-professional vocal students. Most recently, Bell leads the newly expanded Project Inclusion program for vocalists, which engages underrepresented youth in training and performance alongside the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus.
Bell currently serves as Chorus Master of the Edinburgh Festival Chorus. This all-volunteer choir at the center of the Edinburgh International Festival sings with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors and has been doing so for 53 years. Bell began his conducting career as Associate Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, where he is still regularly seen on the podium, and he currently serves as Associate Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra. Bell has worked with Valery Gergiev, Gustavo Dudamel, Antonio Pappano, and many of the world’s leading orchestras.
Bell also serves as Artistic Director of the National Youth Choir of Scotland, overseeing four national choirs with singers aged 10-25, fed by 14 regional choirs beginning at the pre-kindergarten level. He co-founded NYCoS in 1996, and regularly conducts, programs, and engages commissions for the chorus, which performs at festivals across the United Kingdom and the United States. “Under Christopher’s fiercely professional and gloriously persuasive leadership, NYCoS is simply one of the best in the world,” says Donald Runnicles, who, as Music Director of the Grand Teton Music Festival and Chief Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, frequently collaborates with Bell.
“I am so delighted to be taking up this position with The Washington Chorus,” said Bell. “This choir is known across the choral world for its innovative programming and its award winning performances and concerts. I am looking forward to building on the work of my predecessors, maintaining and enhancing the reputation of this great institution and taking it forward. There are adventures ahead, and I am very excited to be part of them.”
“To work with a world-class artist like Christopher is a unique and exciting opportunity—one which exemplifies the rising tide of the many great cultural institutions in Washington,” commented Chase Maggiano, Executive Director of The Washington Chorus.
“The Board of Trustees of The Washington Chorus is incredibly honored that Christopher Bell will become our next Music Director,” remarked Christopher Denby, Chairman of the Board of The Washington Chorus. “His role as Chorus Director of the prestigious Grant Park Music Festival and the entrepreneurial and artistic leadership he has displayed in building the National Youth Choir of Scotland put him at the forefront of choral leaders worldwide. We look forward to his arrival in Washington and to working with Mr. Bell to build upon our successes by forging exciting new growth paths for The Washington Chorus. Given our unique focus on education we are particularly excited about Mr. Bell’s outstanding track record at building choral education programs, something we hope to continue to prioritize in the future.”
At The Washington Chorus, Bell will continue to enhance singing standards to ensure that the organization remains at the forefront of choruses in the nation, and direct significant attention to new singer recruitment and audience engagement. Outreach to underrepresented young musicians and an expansive education program in partnership with DC Public Schools will be a critical component of Bell’s mission at TWC, with the goal of a program similar in nature to Grant Park’s Project Inclusion initiative. To achieve these goals, Bell will transition out of several of his commitments in the U.K. to make TWC a primary responsibility.
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