Coro Casa da Música gave its first concert in 2009 under the direction of Paul Hillier, its principal conductor.

Since its creation in 2009, Coro Casa da Música has been conducted by James Wood, Simon Carrington, Laurence Cummings, Andrew Bisantz, Kaspars Putniņš, Andrew Parrott, Antonio Florio, Christoph König, Peter Rundel, Robin Gritton, Michail Jurowski, Martin André, Marco Mencoboni, Baldur Brönnimann, Olari Elts, Gregory Rose, Takuo Yuasa, Nicolas Fink, Vassily Sinaisky and Douglas Boyd besides its principal conductor Paul Hillier.

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. It has performed with the other groups of Casa da Música – its symphony orchestra, baroque orchestra and contemporary music ensemble –, including Mozart’s Mass in C minor, Janáček’s The Eternal Gospel, Beethoven’s Choral Symphony, Bomtempo’s Requiem à memória de Camões, Brahms’s A German Requiem, Mahler’s 3rd Symphony, Handel’s Messiah, Charpentier’s Te Deum, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Magnificat and Cantatas, Schütz’s Christmas Story, António Teixeira’s Te Deum, Verdi’s Requiem, Haydn’s The Creation, Alessandro Scarlatti’s Christmas Mass, major choral symphonic works by Prokofiev and Shostakovich and Schnittke’s Requiem.

In 2017, Coro Casa da Música favourites of the choral repertoire from the Renaissance to the present day, collaborating with the other resident groups of Casa da Música: Mozart’s Requiem with the Orquestra Sinfónica, Handel’s Messiah with the Orquestra Barroca for the Christmas concert and the more recent Stabat Mater by James Dillon with the Remix Ensemble for it’s national debut. The rich legacy of secular English choral music celebrates the British Year, from the most beautiful English madrigals to the sacred works of the Renaissance masters such as Dowland, Taverner, Tallis and Dunstable, to more recent notable works such as Herbert Howells’ Requiem or Harrison Birtwistle’s Moth Requiem.

Coro Casa da Música tours regularly, performing at the Úbeda and Baeza Festival de Música Antiga (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.

He was Principal Conductor of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir (2001-2007) and has been Chief Conductor of Ars Nova Copenhagen since 2003. In 2008 he became Chief Conductor of Chamber Choir Ireland and was appointed artistic director of the newly formed Coro Casa da Musica in Porto. That same year he also created his own music publishing company, Theatre of Voices Edition (www.tov-edition.com). During 2009 he was artist in residence at Yale University’s Institute for Sacred Music. In 2010 he was awarded his second Grammy – for David Lang’s The Little Match Girl Passion. His recordings, over a hundred and fifty CDs including seven solo recitals for harmonia mundi, Dacapo Records among others have earned worldwide acclaim and won numerous prizes.

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

Engagements have led him to festivals such as the Bergen International Festival, RheinVokal Festival, Musikfest Berlin, BBC Proms, Edinburgh Festival, Hong Kong Arts Festival and at the Royal Danish Opera.

In 2018, he unveiled Arvo Pärt’s And I heard a voice with Ars Nova Copenhagen on the occasion of the 800th anniversary of Salamanca University. Forthcoming highlights are a concert with Theatre of Voices at Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, performances with Chamber Choir Ireland at Kilkenny Arts Festival and Fishguard Festival Wales, with Ars Nova at Strings of Autumn Prague, with Coro Casa da Música in Porto an Early music/Ligeti project, a concert with Hungarian Radio Choir, among others.

Hillier is closely working with the Kronos Quartet, Peter Sellars, Bobbie McFarren, Tim Rushton and Richard Alston.

In 2006 he was awarded an OBE for services to choral music. In 2007 he received the Order of the White Star of Estonia, and was awarded a Grammy for Best Choral Recording of Arvo Pärt’s Da Pacem. In 2013 was made Knight of Dannebrog (the Danish knighthood) by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.

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. His books about Arvo Pärt and Steve Reich are published by Oxford University Press.