Stephen Layton is the Director of Music of the Holst Singers. He is renowed for his exceptional musicianship and for the vitality of his performances. He is also the Director of Music at Trinity College, Cambridge, founded Polyphony in 1986 whilst organ scholar at King's College, and was recently appointed Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the City of London Sinfonia.
A champion of new music, Layton has premiered Pärt, Ades and MacMillan. His bold realisation of Tavener’s epic seven-hour vigil The Veil of the Temple, a new departure in British music, was premiered in London at the Proms and in the Lincoln Center Festival, New York.
Layton guest conducts widely, including the Philadelphia, Minnesota, London Philharmonic, London Sinfonietta, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Ulster, Bournemouth, Royal Scottish National, Britten Sinfonia, Northern Sinfonia, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music and with English, Scottish, Irish and Australian chamber orchestras. For English National Opera he conducted Bach’s St John Passion in a stage production with Deborah Warner. He has been Director of Music at the Temple in London and Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Kammerkoor.
Stephen Layton’s discography on Hyperion ranges from Handel with original instruments to Bruckner and Poulenc, Pärt and Tavener, Tormis, Lukaszewski and Whitacre. He has received the Gramophone Award in the UK, the Diapason d’Or in France, The Compact Award in Spain and two Grammy nominations in the USA.
