Harry Christophers on Christmas

This week Harry Christophers and The Sixteen – the voices of Classic FM - were at the Barbican with the first of two Handel's Messiahs. The second is in the sumptuous surroundings of Versailles in France on 22nd December.

The French concert has been rearranged from last year. Harry Christophers explains:
"We should have been there on the same day last year. But courtesy of the weather, the terrible snow in Kent and worse on the other side of the Channel, we had to cancel. The French were terribly understanding. We're playing in Versailles, in the Kings Chapel, it's going to be glorious." Let's hope they don't have to cancel again this year!

After the concert Harry will be heading home on the Eurostar in time for Christmas with the family.
"I'm a real sucker for Christmas. I take Christmas and the New Year off. It's absolutely sacrosanct. Just us family. I have four children, and their respective boy and girlfriends.”

Apart from leading The Sixteen, Harry Christophers has just taken on a new role, as the first musical ambassador for a new organisation called Musicians without Borders.
"My niece, Liz Murphy, set up the UK side of things, based in Manchester. It's for refugees who've suffered through war and political or religious changes and the stressful effects of that. She got asylum seekers and refugees in Salford and Manchester, and developed big musical projects for them. They all came from different walks of life. It's amazing that music can bring all these people together." 

Listen to the interview with Harry Christophers now