One of The Diapason magazine’s “20 [leading musicians] Under 30”, Christopher Grills is leading a multifaceted career as clavichordist, harpsichordist, church and chamber musician, music director, and tuning and temperament scholar.  He is easily identified by the white cotton gloves he wears while playing the keyboard to mitigate the effects of palmar hyperhidrosis (excessive hand sweat) from which he has suffered since childhood. Grills has directed and produced critically-acclaimed North American premiere performances of large-scale 18th century masterworks with his good friend Elias Miller, through the Harvard Early Music Society. Among these include the period instrument premiere of Hasse’s opera Alcide al Bivio, for which Grills composed the cadenzas and da capo ornaments, and Telemann’s Johannespassion TWV 5:30, the performance of which was featured in the Boston Globe and positively reviewed by the Boston Music Intelligencer.

 

Grills’ affinity for the clavichord has brought him attention on the international music scene. In 2013, he performed on the clavichord at Musica Antiqua a Magnano in Italy, debuted with the Boston Clavichord Society in March 2017, and performed three concerts at the Nordic Historical Keyboard Festival in Finland in May 2017. He earned his Master of Music in Historical Performance at Boston University under the tutelage of Peter Sykes, and received a full-tuition scholarship to pursue his Doctor of Musical Arts at the same institution. He is the first and only student on the North American continent to pursue graduate studies specifically in clavichord, and has been featured in interviews and articles on the instrument in the Joplin Globe and BCS Tangents. He has studied with early keyboard masters from around the world including John Moraitis, Skip Sempé, Mitzi Meyerson, Anna Maria McElwain, Bernard Brauchli, Charlotte Mattax-Moersch, Arthur Haas, Vivian Montgomery and Jory Vinikour.

Grills maintains a busy schedule as a collaborative keyboardist and performs harpsichord continuo with the Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra. His performance with Harvard College Opera’s production of Le Nozze di Figaro was praised by the Intelligencer as “playful and inventive continuo playing [that] bridged the gap between pit and stage, allowing the harpsichord to become nearly an extra on the set through tasteful improvisations that mirrored the characters’ moods.” He has collaborated with such names as Robert Mealy, Phoebe Carrai, Celine Ricci, Edicson Ruiz, and Sarah Darling. As Acting Director of Music at Plymouth Congregational Church in Belmont, Massachusetts, he reinstated a church orchestra and a children’s choir. He has been hired to tune harpsichords for such names as Nicholas McGegan and Jory Vinikour, and for numerous organizations including Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Illinois Symphony Orchestra, Illinois Wesleyan University, Longy School of Music of Bard College, Amherst Early Music and Boston Opera Collaborative.

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