Christopher Rountree is an American conductor known for founding the

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chamber grou
wild Up
an ensemble that blends new music, classical repertoire, performance art and pop. Wild Up was named "Best Classical Music of 2012" by the Los Angeles Times. Rountree has also conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Brooklyn new music festival, the

San Diego Symphony The San Diego Symphony is an American symphony orchestra, based in San Diego, California. The orchestra is resident at Copley Symphony Hall. The orchestra also serves as the orchestra for the San Diego Opera. History On December 6th 1910, th ...

, the

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, the

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) is an American chamber orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. LACO presents its Orchestral Series concerts at two venues, the Alex Theatre in Glendale and UCLA's Royce Hall. History James Arkatov, a ...

, and the

San Francisco Conservatory The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) is a private music conservatory in San Francisco, California. As of 2021, it had 480 students. History The San Francisco Conservatory of Music was founded in 1917 by Ada Clement and Lillian Hodg ...

Orchestra. He has worked with the

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, New York's

Prototype Festival Prototype Festival is an annual, weeklong contemporary opera and musical theater festival held in New York City. Program Prototype Festival is an annual, weeklong festival of contemporary opera and musical theater. The festival encourages n ...

and Beth Morrison Projects, and assisted conductor Alan Pierson on the critically acclaimed opera "Dog Days." He is a lecturer in conducting at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

. He also serves as "Artistic Advisor for New Music" for the

American Youth Symphony The American Youth Symphony (AYS) is an orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, United States, It was founded in 1964. Carlos Izcaray was announced as the third music director in the orchestra's history in 2016. History AYS was founded in 1 ...

. Rountree is known for his lively conducting style, with the ''

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'' writing in one wild Up review, "Rountree punches out rhythms as if they were going out of style. He emphasizes outsize emotions. He could probably get an audience to dance to the slowest movement Shostakovich ever wrote." While such reviews are typical, he has also been praised for "elegant clarity" in ''

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''. Rountree holds his master's degree in orchestral conducting from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, graduating in 2009. As a performer, in 2004, he won Drum Corps International's

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soloist competition.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rountree, Christopher Living people American male conductors (music) University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance alumni Year of birth missing (living people)