Charles Humphries

Charles Humphries’s vocal career began in the United Kingdom as a seven-year-old chorister at Salisbury Cathedral, and since those days, music has taken him to all parts of the globe. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Music, he was honored with the letters ARAM (Associate Royal Academy of Music) for his services to music. Known for his intelligent interpretations of baroque and renaissance music, he has been one of the most sought-after countertenors worldwide for the past twenty-five years.

Throughout that time, his career has paired him with a number of distinguished conductors and directors including Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Richard Hickox, Paul McCreesh, Robert King, Rinaldo Allessandrini, Nicholas McGegan, James O’Donnell, Trevor Pinnock, and Lars Ulrik Mortensen. As a consort singer and soloist, he has made over forty recordings. Highlights of those recordings include groups such as the Gabrieli Consort, The King's Consort, Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, Academy of Ancient Music and The English Concert. He was also a major contributor to the Bach cantata pilgrimage through the millennium year with Sir John Eliot Gardiner, both as a soloist and consort member. Charles continues to reside in the U.S., where his career continues to flourish, appearing on the east coast and beyond. Performance highlights recently have included programmes of Handel Arias and Duets, Vivaldi cantatas, John Dowland Lute songs, a selection of cantatas of J.S. Bach, the St. John Passion, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and songs of Henry Purcell. His solo disc of solo cantatas by J.S. Bach continue to receive rave reviews with Kontrabande (Humphries’ own ensemble), worldwide.

Most recent engagements have included works of Bach, Couperin, and Buxtehude, to name a few. He made his debut earlier this year with the City Choir of Washington under Robert Shafer, singing the title role of Solomon in Handel’s Oratorio. Future engagements throughout the 2017/18 season include the role of Evangelist in Telemann’s St. John Passion in Boston, Bach motets and cantatas for the Raleigh Bach consort, “O Sacred Oracles” a program of excerpts from four of Handel’s biblical oratorios, in Virginia, and further performances of Bach cantatas in Baltimore—including the solo cantata 54. He is in high demand as a vocal coach, teacher, and mentor nationwide. In addition to running his successful private studio, Humphries has been recently appointed Director of Music at Ware Episcopal Church, Gloucester Virginia.