Founded in 1977 by Harry Christophers, the ensemble adopted the name The Sixteen two years later, and covers the choral repertoire of early music and the 20th century with numerous recordings. Born in Goudhurst, Kent, on December 26, 1953, Richard Henry Tudor Christophers took up choral singing at Canterbury Cathedral and studied at Oxford to become a professional chorister at Westminster Abbey, before joining the BBC Singers to form his own vocal and instrumental ensemble, The Sixteen Choir and Orchestra, which he has directed since its inception. Since its first recordings in the early 1980s for the Hyperion, Chandos and Collins Classics labels, The Sixteen has covered a wide range of composers from the Renaissance and Baroque eras, mainly English, including Byrd, Tallis, Taverner, Handel, Purcell and Sheppard, but also from continental Europe, notably Bach, Monteverdi, Allegri, Vivaldi, Victoria, Schütz and Buxtehude, through sacred music and thematic albums. Buoyed by great discographic success, particularly thanks to the A Traditional Christmas Carol Collection series (1991, 2010), the choir and orchestra give pride of place to works by modern and contemporary composers such as Poulenc, Britten, Tippett, Tavener, MacMillan and Frank Martin. It has produced five volumes of The Eton Choirbook (1991-1995) and nine volumes dedicated to Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (2011-2023). In 2001, The Sixteen set up its own Coro label for new productions and reissues of major discs from its catalog of some 200 titles. Collaborators include singers Mark Padmore, Eammon Dougan, Carolyn Sampson, Sophie Daneman and Catherine Wyn-Rogers.
