Equally at home on the concert stage as in the pit, conductor and pianist Chris Hopkins works on a wide range of projects.  He is a frequent face at English National Opera and has conducted more than 60 shows at the London Coliseum, including the company’s first ever production of The Yeomen of the Guard, Cal McCrystal’s hit production of Iolanthe, a new Olivier Award-nominated production of HMS Pinafore, La boheme, The Magic Flute, The Mikado, and others.

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Chris recently made debuts with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Grange Park opera, conducting a new 5* production of Werther, as well as at Garsington Opera, conducting a new Christopher Alden production of Verdi’s Un giorno di regno.  This season Chris will make his debut at Opera North conducting Cosi fan tutte in a brand new partnership with Nevill Holt Opera, and is delighted to be taking over from Iain Ledingham as Artistic Director of the Amersham Festival of Music.

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Chris 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, and other projects with Royal Ballet Sinfonia, Crash Ensemble, London Mozart Players, Birdgang Ltd, Opera Holland Park, Welsh National Opera, NI Opera, appearing 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 and Classic FM.

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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 Ruth Gipps, Colin Matthews, Helen Caddick, Nicholas Korth, David Matthews, Rob Keeley, Thomas Hyde, Detlev Glanert, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Gilad Hochman, and the Pet Shop Boys.  He continues into a fifteenth season as Musical Director of Orchestra of the City.

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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, Shostakovich and Gershwin.  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 and teaches there in his role as Head of Vocal Faculty Opera.