“Joyous and expert music-making by the young Multi-Story Orchestra under Christopher Stark’s unflappable direction”
Christopher is a young conductor based in South London. He is Principal Conductor of the Multi-Story Orchestra, which he co-founded in 2011 with composer Kate Whitley. Multi-Story’s concerts in a Peckham Car Park were recognised with a Royal Philharmonic Society Award in 2016. In the same year, Christopher made a critically acclaimed BBC Proms debut with the Orchestra, leading to reinvitations for 2017, when they performed John Adams’ Harmonielehre, and in 2019.
“Christopher conducts with great flair and intelligence and there’s wonderfully supple, detailed playing from the ETO Orchestra”
Away from Multi-Story, Christopher works mainly in opera and as an Assistant Conductor. Whilst at the University of Cambridge he had the opportunity to conduct Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, Britten’s The Turn of the Screw and Albert Herring with the Cambridge University Opera Society. Since graduating he worked extensively on the music staff of Glyndebourne Festival and Tour as Assistant Conductor, and was awarded the Lefever Study Award by the company for his work on The Turn of the Screw in 2014. He also worked as an Assistant Conductor for the BBC Proms, Aurora Orchestra, The Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment, Oper Köln, Garsington, Gürzenich-Orchester and the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Christopher began his musical life as a cellist and pianist, playing in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, turning to conducting orchestras and operas whilst a Choral Scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge. At Cambridge, he was received an MA in Music and Musicology and a MusB in Piano Accompaniment, his thesis focusing on Pitch-Class Analysis of the music of James MacMillan.
“It is exceptionally well conducted by Christopher Stark, a rising star best known for presenting thunderous contemporary scores in a Peckham car park with his Multi-Story Orchestra. Here, however, he shows how elegantly he can shape Mozart, coaxing beautiful textures from his players and pacing the arias perfectly to showcase the young cast”
This interest in contemporary music is carried into his conducting. For Multi-Story he has conducted the works of John Adams, Gerard Grisey, Louis Andriessen, Terry Riley. Christopher has conducted world premieres by Kate Whitley, Dani Howard, Matt Rogers, William Marsey, Emma-Ruth Richards, and has recorded for the NMC label. In 2018 he conducted the BBC Inspire composers competition winners with the Aurora Orchestra for broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
Christopher is committed to community and amateur music making. This work is at the core of the work of the Multi-Story Orchestra. Away from Multi-Story, he is principal conductor of Blackheath Halls Orchestra and the Ernest Read Symphony Orchestra.
Christopher studied conducting with Peter Stark, Jorma Panula and Stephen Layton.