Paul Hillier

Paul Hillier was chief conductor and artistic director of Ars Nova Copenhagen from 2003 - 2023. Upon his resignation, he was appointed honorary conductor of the ensemble.

Paul Hillier is from Dorset in England and graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. During his career he has worked as a conductor, singer, teacher, editor and writer. He was the founder and artistic director of the Hilliard Ensemble, and later founded the Theater of Voices. He has taught in the USA at the University of California in Santa Cruz and Davis and in the period 1996-2003 as head of the Early Music Institute at the Indiana University School of Music.

His more than a hundred CD recordings (including 7 solo recitals) have brought him worldwide honors and numerous awards. His books on Arvo Pärt and Steve Reich are – together with several choral music anthologies – published by Oxford University Press. In 2006 Paul Hillier was awarded an O.B.E. (Order of the British Empire) for his contribution to choral music, and in March 2007 he was awarded the Order of the White Star 4th degree for his contribution to Estonian musical life and received a Grammy for Best Choral Recording.

Hillier was artistic director and chief conductor of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir 2001-2007. In 2008 he was appointed Chief Conductor/Artistic Director of The National Chamber Choir of Ireland as well as Artistic Director of the newly formed Coro Casa da Música in Porto, Portugal. In 2009 he was 'artist in residence' at the Institute for Sacred Music at Yale University. In 2010 he received his second Grammy - for David Lang's The Little Match Girl Passion. In 2013, he was awarded the Knight's Cross.

Paul is represented worldwide by Konzertdirektion Hörtnagel, Berlin.