Biography

At the heart of Stephen Layton’s work sits the music of Bach and Handel, alongside that of Arvo Pärt, John Tavener and a new generation of composers. Across four decades, his performances and recordings have explored the extraordinary range of the choral repertoire, bringing fresh perspectives to established masterpieces while introducing new music to audiences around the world.

Founder and Director of Polyphony and Director of the Holst Singers, Layton has been Principal Conductor of the Slovenian Philharmonic Choir since 2024. His international career has taken him to major concert halls across Europe, North America, Asia and Australia, from the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Carnegie Hall in New York to Sydney Opera House.

International Conducting

Layton has worked extensively with professional choirs throughout Europe. His former appointments include Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Chamber Choir and Chief Guest Conductor of the Danish National Vocal Ensemble. Guest engagements have included Germany’s SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart, MDR Rundfunkchor Leipzig and NDR Vokalensemble Hamburg; the Latvian State Choir and Latvian Radio Choir; Estonia’s Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Voces Musicales; the Polish Chamber Choir in Gdańsk and NFM Choir in Wrocław; and Sweden’s Eric Ericson Chamber Choir.

His orchestral engagements have taken him across the United States, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, working with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra and Seattle Symphony Orchestra; Singapore Symphony Orchestra; Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Queensland and West Australian Symphony Orchestras; Australian Chamber Orchestra; and Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra. In Britain, he served as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the City of London Sinfonia, succeeding Richard Hickox.

Polyphony and Cambridge

While an organ scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, Layton founded Polyphony in 1986. The ensemble has since established an international reputation through its concerts and recordings, particularly in music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In 2006 Layton became Fellow and Director of Music at Trinity College, Cambridge, a position he held for seventeen years. During that period, the college choir developed an extensive international performing and recording career, encompassing music from the Renaissance to the present day. In a Gramophone critics’ poll of the world’s twenty greatest choirs, Polyphony was placed second and Trinity College Choir fifth — the only university choir among the top five.

Recordings and Recognition

Layton’s recordings have received numerous international distinctions, including two Gramophone Awards and a further ten nominations, five Grammy nominations, the French Diapason d’Or de l’Année, Germany’s Echo Klassik Award, Spain’s CD Compact Award and Australia’s Limelight Recording of the Year. His discography includes award-winning recordings of Britten’s Sacred and Profane, James MacMillan’s Seven Last Words from the Cross and Poulenc’s Gloria, alongside music by Howells, Duruflé, Pärt, Lauridsen and Whitacre.

Two particularly longstanding musical partnerships have been with Britten Sinfonia and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. With Britten Sinfonia, Layton has made eight recordings, including Handel’s Messiah, selected by BBC Music Magazine as its preferred recording of the work. His recordings with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment include Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Mass in B minor and St John Passion. These collaborations reflect a continuing engagement with the music of Bach and Handel, heard in regular London concerts and broadcasts, as well as Deborah Warner’s staged production of the St John Passion at English National Opera in 2000 and 2002.

Collaborations

Alongside this engagement with the established repertoire, Layton has developed close and enduring relationships with contemporary composers. His association with Arvo Pärt has encompassed premieres, performances and three recordings with Polyphony for Hyperion. During his years as Director of Music at the Temple Church, London, he collaborated with Sir John Tavener on The Veil of the Temple, the composer’s monumental seven-hour all-night vigil, which received its world premiere there in 2003. Conducted by Layton with the Temple Church Choir and Holst Singers, the work subsequently received its American premiere at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, New York, and was presented in a concert version at the Royal Albert Hall during the 2004 BBC Proms.

His exploration of contemporary choral music has embraced composers on both sides of the Atlantic. Recordings with Polyphony of Morten Lauridsen’s Lux aeterna and Eric Whitacre’s Cloudburst both received Grammy nominations, with Cloudburst remaining on the American Billboard Classical Album Chart for a year. His discography also includes Karl Jenkins’s Motets for Deutsche Grammophon, which reached No. 1 in the UK Classical Artist Albums Chart, and Miserere with Britten Sinfonia for Decca.

Music from Northern and Eastern Europe has been a particularly enduring interest in Layton’s career. His close associations with composers including Arvo Pärt, Ēriks Ešenvalds, Uģis Prauliņš, Veljo Tormis, Paweł Łukaszewski and Jaakko Mäntyjärvi have developed through personal encounters, performances, commissions and recordings. Working with these composers and exploring the rich variety of their musical traditions, Layton has played a significant part in bringing their music to international audiences, particularly through recordings with Polyphony and the Choir of Trinity College Cambridge. Their works encompass an extraordinary range of influences, from ancient folk traditions and sacred texts to contemporary musical expression, and have become an important and enduring part of his repertoire.

Promoters: for an updated biography and photographs for programmes, please contact Cambridge Creative Management.