Coro Casa da Música was created in 2009 and it performs in a regular basis at Casa da Música and on tour.

Coro Casa da Música was created in 2009 with Paul Hillier as its principal conductor until 2019. It performs in a regular basis at Casa da Música and on tour, and it has been conducted by Simon Carrington, Nicolas Fink, Antonio Florio, Robin Gritton, Sofi Jeannin, Andrew Parrott, Marco Mencoboni, Kaspars Putniņš, Nacho Rodríguez, Gregory Rose, Nils Schweckendiek and James Wood. Based around a core membership of 18, the choir is regularly enlarged to take on medium and full symphonic choral duties, fulfilling a key role in the performance of repertoire from the Renaissance to the present day. Its symphonic choral programmes led to collaborations with conductors Martin André, Stefan Blunier, Douglas Boyd, Baldur Brönnimann, Olari Elts, Leopold Hager, Michail Jurowski, Michael Sanderling, Christoph König, Peter Rundel, Vassily Sinaisky and Takuo Yuasa. It also has performed early music programmes with international authorities as Laurence Cummings, Paul McCreesh and Hervé Niquet.

Since its formation, Coro Casa da Música has performed several world premieres, including works by Michael Gordon, Gregory Rose, Manuel Hidalgo, Carlos Caires and a rediscovered work by Lopes-Graça. In 2020, it shared with Remix Ensemble the world premiere of Francesco Filidei’s Requiem. Its repertoire includes Portuguese premieres of prominent contemporary composers as Birtwistle, Manoury, Dillon, Haas or Rihm, and other key figures from the 20th and 21st centuries, as Lachenmann, Schoenberg, Stockhausen, Gubaidulina or Cage.

Portuguese music has been one of the main focus of the choir, in programmes dedicated to the golden age of Renaissance polyphony, Lopes-Graça and symphonic choral works by Bomtempo and António Teixeira.

Coro Casa da Música has performed with the other groups of Casa da Música – its symphony orchestra, baroque orchestra and contemporary music ensemble –, including Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder, Bruckner’s Te Deum, Haydn’s The Seasons and The Creation, Bach’s Mass in B minor, Christmas Oratorio, Magnificat and Cantatas, Mahler’s Symphonies, Mozart’s Mass in C minor and Requiem, Janáček’s The Eternal Gospel, Beethoven’s Choral Symphony and Missa Solemnis, Brahms’ A German Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Charpentier’s Te Deum, Schütz’ Christmas Story, Verdi’s Requiem, Alessandro Scarlatti’s Messa per il Santissimo Natale, great symphonic choral works by Prokofieff and Chostakovitch, Schnittke’s Requiem, Monteverdi’s Vespers, Schubert’s Mass No. 5, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater and Mendelssohn’s oratorio Paulus.

In 2021, Coro Casa da Música covers large periods of the choral music history, from the Renaissance madrigal to the Portuguese premiere of a new work by Luca Francesconi. Together with Casa da Música orchestras, it performs the complete Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Mozart’s Requiem.

Coro Casa da Música tours regularly, performing at the Úbeda and Baeza Festival de Música Antiga and Auditorio Nacional Madrid (Spain), the Laus Polyphoniae Festival in Antwerp, the Handel Festival in London, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Tenso Days Festival in Marseille, the Christmas Concerts of Ourense and in several Portuguese concert halls.

The founding director of the Hilliard Ensemble and Theatre of Voices, Paul Hillier is regarded as one of the most versatile artists. His career has embraced singing, conducting, composing, and writing about music.
His recordings, over a hundred and fifty CDs including seven solo recitals for harmonia mundi, Dacapo Records, Ondine among others have earned worldwide acclaim and won numerous prizes. In 2007 he was awarded a Grammy for Best Choral Recording of Arvo Pärt’s Da Pacem, followed by his second Grammy with David Lang's The Little Match Girl Passion with Theatre of Voices in 2010.

The British early music icon was Principal Conductor of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir from 2001 to 2007 and holds this position with Ars Nova Copenhagen since 2003. In 2008 he became Chief Conductor of Chamber Choir Ireland and was appointed artistic director of Coro Casa da Musica in Porto.

Hillier regularly collaborates with the leading chamber choirs as the Danish National Radio Choir, NDR Rundfunkchor, Rundfunkchor Berlin, ChorWerk Ruhr, Houston Chamber Choir and orchestras as London Sinfonietta, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Concerto Copenhagen, Athelas Sinfonietta, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Irish Baroque Orchestra, Ensemble Remix, Concerto Palatino, Copenhagen Philharmonic, South Denmark Philharmonic, Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto among others.

Engagements have led him to festivals such as the Bergen International Festival, RheinVokal Festival, Musikfest Berlin, Niedersächsische Musiktage, BBC Proms, Edinburgh, Kilkenny Arts and Hong Kong Arts Festival etc.

Paul Hillier enjoyed close collaborations with many composers and has led numerous first performances by Arvo Pärt, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, John Cage, Ingram Marshall, John Adams, David Lang, Michael Gordon, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Heiner Goebbels, Kaija Saariaho, Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, Helena Tulve, Sunleif Rasmussen, Jóhann Jóhannsson and many more.

In addition, he is closely working with the Kronos Quartet, Peter Sellars, Bobbie McFarren, Tim Rushton and Richard Alston.
Paul Hillier was born in Dorchester and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He has taught at the University of California and from 1996-2003 was Director of the Early Music Institute at Indiana University. During 2009 he was Artist-in-Residence at Yale University’s Institute for Sacred Music.

His books about Arvo Pärt and Steve Reich are published by Oxford University Press. In 2008 he also created his own music publishing company, Theatre of Voices Edition (www.tov-edition.com).

In 2013 Paul Hillier was made Knight of Dannebrog (the Danish knighthood) by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. For his services to choral music he was awarded the Order of the White Star of Estonia in 2007 and the Order of the British Empire in 2006.