BIOGRAPHY

Christopher Theofanidis (b. 12/18/67 in Dallas, Texas) has had performances by many leading orchestras from around the world, including the National Symphony, the London Symphony, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, the Moscow Soloists, the Atlanta, Houston, Baltimore, St. Louis, and Detroit Symphonies, the California Symphony (for which he was composer-in-residence from 1994 to 1996), the Oregon Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, among others. He recently served as Composer of the Year for the Pittsburgh Symphony during their 2006-2007 Season, where he wrote a violin concerto for Sarah Chang. 

Mr. Theofanidis holds degrees from Yale, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Houston, and has been the recipient of the International Masterprize (hosted at the Barbican Centre in London), the Rome Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Barlow Prize, six ASCAP Gould Prizes, a Fulbright Fellowship to France, a Tanglewood Fellowhship, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Charles Ives Fellowship.  Last year he was nominated for a Grammy for best composition for his chorus and orchestra work, The Here and Now, which will be performed later this season (April 2008) at Carnegie Hall by the Atlanta Symphony and Chorus.  His orchestral concert work, Rainbow Body, has been one of the most performed new orchestral works of the last ten years, having been performed by over 70 orchestras. 

Mr. Theofanidis' recent projects include a ballet for the American Ballet Theatre, a new string orchestra work for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, which will have its premiere at Carnegie Hall in December 2007, a new work for the Austin Symphony for the inauguration of their new hall in September 2008.  He has served as a delegate to the US-Japan Foundation's Leadership Program and is a former faculty member of the Juilliard School.  He currently teaches at the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.