Paul Hillier


Paul Douglas Hillier is an English conductor, music director and baritone. He specializes in early music and contemporary art music, especially that by composers Steve Reich and Arvo Pärt. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music, beginning his professional career while a vicar-scholar at St Paul's Cathedral, London. His concert debut was in 1974 in London's Purcell Room.

Ensembles

Hillier was born in Dorchester, England in 1949. In 1974 he co-founded the Hilliard Ensemble along with fellow vicar-scholar Paul Elliott and counter-tenor David James. Hillier remained the director of the ensemble until 1990, when he founded Theatre of Voices. In addition to early music, this group explores more contemporary repertoire. With the Chicago-based ensemble His Majestie's Clerkes Hillier recorded early American repertoire such as the works of William Billings on the 1992 album A Land of Pure Delight.
Hillier later became Director of the Early Music Institute at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and, at the same time, of the Pro Arte Singers, remaining so until he left the Institute in 2003. The Pro Arte Singers joined the Theatre of Voices in a couple of recordings. In 2001, he became the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir.
Since 2003, Hillier has been Chief Conductor of Ars Nova. In 2008, he was appointed Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the National Chamber Choir of Ireland.
Hillier has recorded a number of solo albums, some with harpist Andrew Lawrence-King, on the Harmonia Mundi, ECM, EMI, Finlandia and Hyperion labels.

Academic appointments

Starting in 1980, Hillier has held a variety of academic appointments over the years, most recently as Director of the Early Music Institute at Indiana University Bloomington.

Publications