Christopher Theofanidis

Christopher Theofanidis (b. 1967) is an American composer and music educator from Dallas, a professor of composition at Yale University School Of Music since 2008. He graduated with a BMus degree from The University Of Houston in 1990 and continued his studies at Eastman School of Music, receiving an MMus degree in 1992. Theofanidis also participated in the Young American Composer-in-Residence Program with Barry Jekowsky and California Symphony from 1994 to 1996 and served as a resident composer at Norfolk Chamber Music Festival (1999). He got both MMA and DMA degrees from Yale University in 1997. Theofanidis' works have been performed by leading international and US ensembles, such as The London Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, National Philharmonic Orchestra, The Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and numerous others. During the 2006–07 season, Christopher served as a composer-in-residence for The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and wrote a violin concerto for Sarah Chang. Some of his recent compositions include works for Orpheus Chamber Orchestra's New Brandenburg series and a few commissions for San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Houston Grand Opera. Christopher received several high-profile awards, including the International Masterprize (2003), a fellowship from Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, six ASCAP Gould Prizes, a Fulbright Fellowship to France, a Tanglewood Fellowship, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Charles Ives Fellowship. He also served as a delegate and US program director of the U.S.-Japan Foundation's Leadership Program (2004-2006). In 2007, Theofanidis was nominated for a Grammy Award for The Here and Now, a chorus and orchestra work based on the poetry of Jalal al-din Rumi. His educational career began in the mid-nineties when Christopher Theofanidis worked as a visiting professor and post-doctorate fellow at The University of Houston, and also served as a director of composition and music theory at the American Festival for the Arts. From 1999 to 2006, he was on the faculty at Juilliard School. Theofanidis became a professor of composition at Peabody Institute in 2000 and remained there for eight years (serving as a chair of the Composition Department in 2001). He also worked as a visiting professor of music at Hunter College, City University Of New York in 2004–05.