Christopher Lowrey has been hailed as “one of the operatic countertenors of our day” (Bachtrack), praised for “one of the most beautiful timbres” and a “pure tone” (OperaWire), and celebrated for a voice “packed with enough character to sink a battleship” (Limelight). He has appeared on the world’s leading opera and concert stages while forging a parallel career as a conductor and as Founder and Artistic Director of Ensemble Altera.
In the 2026/27 season, Lowrey sings the title role in Handel’s Giulio Cesare at the Klaipėda State Music Theatre and Ottone in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea with the Academy of Ancient Music. He returns to the Händel-Festspiele Halle in the title role of Rinaldo, reprising the performance OperaWire hailed last season as a “meticulously crafted reading” delivered with “convincing vocal power.” He also appears in Tigrane, re d’Armenia at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music under Ottavio Dantone.
His upcoming concert engagements include Handel’s Israel in Egypt and a programme of Handel duets with Arcangelo; Bach cantatas and the St John Passion with Gli Angeli Genève; and Messiah with the Handel and Haydn Society under Harry Christophers. He reunites with Leonardo García Alarcón and Cappella Mediterranea for concert performances of Draghi’s Il dono della vita eterna and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, the latter in collaboration with the Netherlands Chamber Choir. With Mercury Chamber Orchestra in Houston, he performs Bach’s Vergnügte Ruh alongside arias from Handel’s Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno.
Recent operatic highlights include Didymus in Handel’s Theodora with Pinchgut Opera, a portrayal hailed as “a tour de force of singing and acting” (Bachtrack); Medoro in Orlando at Oper Frankfurt; Ottone at the Grange Festival; and Guildenstern in Brett Dean’s Hamlet at the Metropolitan Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, and Sydney Opera House, a role he created at the work’s Glyndebourne world premiere. On the concert platform, he has appeared as David in Saul with the Handel and Haydn Society under Jonathan Cohen, toured Bach’s St Matthew Passion with the Netherlands Bach Society under Masaaki Suzuki, performed with La Nuova Musica at Wigmore Hall, and made his debut with the Gabrieli Consort and Players under Paul McCreesh.
Lowrey has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Bayerische Staatsoper, Glyndebourne, Teatro Real Madrid, and Teatro La Fenice, as well as at Carnegie Hall, the BBC Proms, Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw, and the Philharmonie de Paris. His orchestral and ensemble partners have included the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music, Bach Collegium Japan, Pygmalion, Arcangelo, Cappella Mediterranea, and the Netherlands Bach Society.
His longstanding collaborators include William Christie, Vladimir Jurowski, Christophe Rousset, Laurence Cummings, Harry Bicket, Raphaël Pichon, Masaaki Suzuki, Leonardo García Alarcón, Harry Christophers, Erin Helyard, Jonathan Cohen, and Paul McCreesh.
Lowrey’s repertoire encompasses more than forty roles in Handel’s operas and oratorios, including many of the principal parts written for the countertenor voice. Beyond the Baroque, his roles range from Oberon in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream to characters created in major contemporary works. His extensive discography spans Monteverdi, Pergolesi, Vivaldi, Handel, Bernstein, and Brett Dean, including several Handel title roles and solo recordings devoted to Handel and Vivaldi. He has recorded for Alpha Classics, Accent, ABC Classics, Ricercar, Linn, Harmonia Mundi, Hyperion, EMI, and Opus Arte.
As Founder and Artistic Director, Lowrey has built Ensemble Altera into an award-winning professional chamber choir devoted to exceptional performance, ambitious recording projects, international touring, and the creation of new work. Its debut album, The Lamb’s Journey, received the German Record Critics’ Award and was followed by Dazzling Light and Feminine Voices at Christmas, awarded five stars and named a Christmas Choice by BBC Music Magazine.
In 2026, Lowrey commissioned and conducted the world premiere of Piers Connor Kennedy’s Declarations, created to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States and first performed in New York, Boston, and Providence. In the current season, he leads Ensemble Altera on a Texas tour of The Four Elements and a southeastern United States tour of A New Song: Psalms for the Soul, alongside the choir’s annual Handel performances. The ensemble’s forthcoming PENTATONE releases include The Four Elements and Declarations, the latter scheduled for July 2027.
Originally from Rhode Island, Lowrey studied at Brown University, the University of Cambridge, where he was a choral scholar with Trinity College Choir under Stephen Layton, and the Royal College of Music International Opera School. His honours include a Helpmann Award, a Sullivan Foundation Award, the Michael Oliver Prize at the London Handel Singing Competition, recognition in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and a Keasbey Award.
(2026/27_Please use this CV exclusively.)
