Equally at home on the concert stage as in the pit, conductor and pianist Chris Hopkins is engaged on a wide range of projects. He is a frequent face at English National Opera, recently conducting the company’s first ever production of The Yeomen of the Guard and this season conducting Cal McCrystal’s hit production of Iolanthe. He has conducted more than 50 shows at the London Coliseum, including the new Olivier Award-nominated production of HMS Pinafore, La boheme, The Magic Flute, The Mikado, and more. He recently made his debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and this season makes debuts with various other companies, including conducting a new production of Werther at Grange Park Opera with Tony Award-winning director John Doyle.
He is principal conductor of English Sinfonia and has worked with Opera de Paris, the Royal Opera House and Glyndebourne Opera, on record with English Chamber Orchestra, on other projects with Royal Ballet Sinfonia, Crash Ensemble, London Mozart Players, Birdgang Ltd, and appeared at festivals including Aldeburgh, Presteigne, Cubitt Sessions, New Paths, and Latitude. His work has been broadcast on BBC Radio 2, 3 and 4, BBC 1, 2 and 4, Scala Radio and Classic FM.
A long-term advocate for British music, Chris was the first postgraduate from the Centre for the History of Music in Britain, the Empire and the Commonwealth (CHOMBEC) before continuing his studies at the Royal Academy of Music with Leverhulme and Elton John scholarships. He has premiered works by composers including Colin Matthews, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, David Matthews, Rob Keeley, Thomas Hyde, Detlev Glanert, Gilad Hochman and the Pet Shop Boys. He continues into a thirteenth season as Musical Director of Orchestra of the City.
As a pianist, Chris has played for audiences around the world, working with orchestras in a range of concertos, including Brahms, Mozart, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Beethoven (complete) Shostakovich and Gershwin; this season he tackles Mozart 10, 15, 19, 22, 23 and 24, Rachmaninoff 2, Beethoven 4 and Shostakovich 2. He is a writer for Pretty Decent Music and recently released his first album of piano miniatures: Impressions 1
Chris was honoured in 2013 to be made an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.