Polyphony

Polyphony is one of England's most popular small choirs, offering popular annual performances of Handel and Bach that constitute major events on London's musical calendar. The group's repertory is unusually catholic, running from the Baroque to contemporary English works and Eastern European minimalism. Polyphony has a large recording catalog, much of it appearing on the Hyperion label. In 2025, the group moved to Convivium Records for the album Clive Osgood: English Folksongs. Polyphony was founded by conductor Stephen Layton, later director of music at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1986, while he was still a Cambridge undergraduate. It should not be confused with the 1970s progressive rock group of the same name. Layton remained the group's conductor as of the mid-2020s. The choir was originally intended to perform only for a single concert at King's College Chapel, but the need for a small-to-medium-sized choir (Polyphony generally has about 25 members) outside the English cathedral tradition quickly became evident. Polyphony made its recording debut in 1995 with the album James MacMillan: Last Words from the Cross on the Catalyst label, moving to Hyperion later that year for At Twilight: Choral Music of Percy Grainger and Edvard Grieg. The choir launched annual performances of Handel's Messiah, HWV 56, and Bach's St. John Passion, BWV 245, at London's St. John's Smith Square Concert Hall, and those have grown into defining events of the classical music Christmas season in London, with tickets often selling out well in advance. The choir has also made multiple appearances at the BBC Proms, including one in 2011 with the City of London Sinfonia in Mozart's Requiem, K. 626. Such Proms appearances have also been broadcast. Polyphony has toured occasionally, performing in Spain, France, and Brazil, among other countries. Under Layton, the choir has been especially notable for its commitment to contemporary music. This has included not only the popular British choral compositions of John Tavener, James MacMillan, and John Rutter but also, more unusually for an English choir, a wide range of non-British music: Polyphony has performed and recorded not only the popular choral music of Arvo Pärt, but also that of the lesser-known Veljo Tormis, Pawel Lukaszewski, and Einojuhani Rautavaara, among many others. The choir has often released two or three albums in a single year. Its releases cover an unusually wide variety of music from Handel and Bach to popular contemporary composers like Rutter and Morten Lauridsen. In 2019, Polyphony released Miserere: Songs of Mercy and Redemption, a collection of short pieces by the popular choral composer Karl Jenkins on Hyperion. In 2025, the group issued the album Clive Osgood: English Folksongs on Convivium Records. ~ James Manheim, Rovi