Christopher Monks

Christopher Monks is a British organist, conductor, and early music scholar known for his role as the director of the Armonico Consort early music ensemble. He’s also committed to educating underprivileged youth, and he created the Armonico Consort Academy, which provides choral training to children in the poorest communities of the U.K. He was born in 1974, and he spent his childhood in Solihull, England. His early interest in music led him to join the church choir, and he became a chorister when he was eight years old. Later, he won a scholarship to study the organ at the Solihull School, and it was also around this time that he began conducting. After his graduation, he enrolled at Cambridge University and became the organ scholar at the Gonville and Caius College. Once he completed his studies at Cambridge, he was appointed assistant organist at the Winchester Cathedral, under conductor and organist David Hill. During his two years at Winchester, Monks was inspired by Hill’s mentorship, and he discovered his talent and passion for choral conducting. He formed the Armonico Consort in 2001, which is a 16-piece vocal ensemble that specializes in vocal repertoire from the Renaissance and Baroque eras. Frustrated by the lack of proper musical training in public schools, he incorporated a series of educational outreach programs into the Armonico Consort’s agenda. In its second year of operation, the AC created and implemented a series of choral training programs, called the AC Academy, which offers high-quality instruction to around 15,000 children annually. In 2004, Monks and the AC released Francesco Scarlatti: Dixit Dominus, and they performed a series of concerts with percussionist Evelyn Glennie. Other early releases include Tomás Luis de Victoria: Requiem from 2005, and Henry Purcell: The Fairy Queen from 2006. They also recorded Mozart’s The Magic Flute the following year, which like the Purcell album, received a refreshingly modern revision that impressed music critics. Through the 2010s, Monks made several more critically acclaimed recordings with the AC, and he led the ensemble on around 40 performances per year. He also continued his participation with the AC Academy and conducted massive AC Academy choir concerts that typically contained over 1,200 young singers. He also conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the European Union Chamber Orchestra. Monks’ 2021 release with the AC, Handelian Pyrotechnics, featured a collaboration with countertenor William Towers, and in 2023 he conducted on Francesco Scarlatti: Dixit Dominus; Mass, which critics described as high energy, invigorating, and imaginative. ~ RJ Lambert, Rovi