Christopher Glynn - Artistic Director

Christopher Glynn is delighted to have been appointed Artistic Director of the Ryedale Festival.

Chris performs widely as a pianist and accompanist, partnering many leading singers and instrumentalists in concerts, broadcasts and recordings throughout Europe and in the Far East.

He was born in Leicester and read music at New College, Oxford (as organ scholar) before studying piano with John Streets in France and Malcolm Martineau at the Royal Academy of Music. His many awards include the piano accompaniment prize in the 2001 Kathleen Ferrier competition and the 2003 Gerald Moore award. He made his debut at the Wigmore Hall with Stephanie Marshall in 2001 and has since performed there many times, as well as in all the main UK concert halls and many of the major concert venues and festivals throughout Europe and in the Far East.

Chris has accompanied singers including Sir Thomas Allen, Matthew Best, Claire Booth, Susan Bullock, Allan Clayton, Ronan Collett, Lucy Crowe, Michael George, Darren Jeffery, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Jonas Kaufmann, Julie Kennard, Andrew Kennedy, Yvonne Kenny, Dame Felicity Lott, Christopher Maltman, Rufus Muller, Ian Partridge, Derek Lee Ragin, Joan Rodgers, Kate Royal, James Rutherford, Carolyn Sampson, Toby Spence, Bryn Terfel, Elin Manahan Thomas, Ailish Tynan, Lillian Watson, Roderick Williams and Catherine Wyn Rogers. He has also performed with many well-known instrumentalists including Daniel Hope, Nicholas Daniel, Maurice Bourge, Harriet Mackenzie and the Alberni Quartet.

He has made many acclaimed CD recordings for labels including Hyperion, Erato, Coro and Cantoris and many studio recordings and live broadcasts for BBC Radio 3, Classic FM and for European radio and television. He has been artistic director of concert series at the Royal Academy of Music and the National Portrait Gallery and is a vice-president of the Grove Park Music Festival in London
Chris is a Professor at the Royal College of Music and an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music; he is also an official pianist for the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels and works often with the Samling Foundation.

Future plans include concerts at the Wigmore Hall and for the BBC, several recording projects including Reger vocal music with Consortium for Hyperion and concert tours in USA, Germany and Japan. He will also present a concert series entitled ‘The Songs of Ravel and his circle’ at the Wigmore Hall on 20th November, 2012.