Just A Quickie With... Harry Christophers, conductor of The Sixteen, who present the choral concert A Golden Age at York Minster next Friday.

The Sixteen's visit to York has become one of the fixtures on the York classical music calendar. How come?

"We have performed there every year on our choral pilgrimage since 2000 and have played there many times before that, in the city's festivals, and we love giving concerts there. York Minster is a wonderful place to play; always a high spot on our tours; always a lively acoustic. Sparky!"

What music will feature in A Golden Age?

"This year's performance is focused upon the music of Portugal, which is not well known at all."

Has this summer's location of the European football championship prompted you to put Portuguese music in the spotlight?

"Although I am a football fan, the Euro 2004 tournament was not the reason for the focus. We just wish to highlight church music that is not well known. Every country has a wealth of repertoire and it is just a case of delving into it. The further we dig, the more there is to be found."

Was it difficult to 'dig up' the sacred 17th century music of Lotti, Melgas and Rebelo?

"Not that difficult. We have a very good relationship with the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, which not only has an incredible museum of art and ceramics but also promotes Portuguese arts. The Gulbenkian spent many years digging out the Portuguese devotional repertoire and we have championed it over the years and have now decided to put this concert together.

"Melgas and Rebelo are the two kings of Portuguese music but no one knows their music, and yet they are just as good as the better-known European composers. We've done four recordings of Portuguese music, and they all have been very successful, which shows how good this music is.

"We've been the pioneers for this music and now other choirs are drawing inspiration from that pioneering work."

A Golden Age features the music of Scarlatti, but was he not Italian rather than Portuguese?

"Yes, he was, but he was brought over to the Portuguese court in the mid to late Baroque period. He's famed for his harpsichord music but we are doing a virtuosic choral piece from the early 1700s when he was the Royal composer and teacher to the king's daughter."

Have The Sixteen performed in Portugal?

"We sang in a very ornate monastery, Monasterio San Jeronimos, in 2002 in a part of Lisbon called Belem, which means Little Bethlehem, and that was magical, and this year we did A Golden Age at the Gulbenkian Foundation... in a concert hall rather than one of their wonderful churches."

What engagements are in The Sixteen diary before you arrive in York next Friday?

"We're off to Cyprus from Monday to Thursday next week to do some more Iberian music and the Cyprus Codex, which we'll be performing in Nicosia and Paphos. Then it's back to England for the York concert. After that, we have a big tour of Spain coming up."

Finally, sorry to ask a question you must have answered so often, but how did the choir come to be called The Sixteen?

"We're called that for no other reason than when we started in 1977 we had 16 musicians doing 16th century music but of course the choir and the repertoire have expanded since then, rather like the Monteverdi Singers sing not only Monteverdi works.

"On this tour, there are 18 in the choir, accompanied by Gary Cooper, organ, Siobhan Armstrong, harp, and David Miller, theorbo, so The Sixteen are The Twenty One."

The Sixteen, A Golden Age, York Minster, May 21, 7.30pm. Tickets: £20, £14, £8; ring 01904 644194.

Updated: 08:54 Friday, May 14, 2004