New website coming soon

A new website will be appearing in the next few weeks, but meanwhile here is some information about me and contact details if you want to get in touch.

"His music is, at once, fun to play and insightful…there is always something ever so lyrical about it…He is, no doubt, one of the most interesting and stimulating composers I have worked with."

(Pedro Carneiro Solo percussionist, Chief Conductor/Artistic Director of the Portuguese Chamber Orchestra)

Christopher is a composer, arranger, orchestrator and educational author. He studied composition at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and at the University of Cambridge.

His original works have been performed internationally and include concert pieces for symphony orchestra, choral music, jazz, music for theatre and film, educational music and music for amateur musicians.

Christopher’s music has received international acclaim and featured in the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival’s Young Composers Award, Marimolin Composition Competition (USA), BBC/spnm’s Manchester Platform for Composers and the Edinburgh Fringe, and has received performances at venues including the Barbican Centre, Purcell Room, St. John’s Smith Square, Wigmore Hall, LSO St. Luke’s, Belém Cultural Centre (Lisbon), and the Oxford Playhouse.

In 2006, Christopher was selected to join the spnm’s Composers Shortlist which showcases emerging talent, and very recently he has been shortlisted for BASCA’s 2012 British Composer Award, in the Making Music Award category, for his a cappella choral work ‘Dreamtide’.

A prolific arranger, Christopher has been commissioned to produce over 2000 sheet music transcriptions and audio arrangements, of classical music, choral music, pop, jazz and musical theatre, which have been published by the major UK, European and US publishing houses and featured on television. His arrangements for recordings and the concert hall include numerous arrangements for woodwind orchestra (including Stravinsky’s ‘The Rite of Spring’ and Wagner’s ‘Tannhäuser Overture’), big band scores of the Rat Pack songs, a concert suite of the Oscar-winning film score from ‘Atonement’ for its composer Dario Marianelli, and transcriptions by ear of film scores from ‘Fiddler On The Roof’, the music of Bernard Herrmann (‘Vertigo’, ‘Taxi Driver’ and ‘North By Northwest’) and piano/voice transcriptions of Nina Simone and Ray Charles.

“It’s most important to me that my music is clear and direct, engaging and accessible to today’s listener, without compromising its power to be original, challenging and distinctive.”