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.
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.