In addition to playing principal trumpet with the Collaborative Orchestra, Chris will be singing bass with the English Chamber Choir at Royal Albert Hall on May 26, 2016, for a live audio performance of the film “Gladiator” (alongside the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra), and again at the O2 Arena on June 19 in support of a performance by “Yes” keyboardist Rick Wakeman.

Born in North Africa to American and British parents, Chris grew up near New York City in the United States. Trained in French horn from the age of 13 (studying under Fred Eager and Reed Corbo), he played in the Norwalk Youth Symphony and was selected for the Connecticut All State Orchestra. After switching to trumpet in high (secondary) school, he played first trumpet in the school band and brass quintet as well as lead trumpet in the school’s top jazz ensemble, under director Frank Gawle. He also sang bass in the school’s jazz choir and madrigal groups, both directed by Elissa Getto.

While at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, he briefly played lead trumpet in the Barbary Coast jazz ensemble (Don Glasgo, director) before focusing on directing and arranging for the university’s oldest a cappella group, the Dartmouth Aires (who more recently nearly won the national U.S. TV show “Sing-Off”), and dabbling in rock music.

After university Chris moved to Washington, D.C., then New York City, where he continued to expand his pop music horizons, becoming an acoustic rock singer/songwriter/guitarist and band leader — using his middle name to perform and record as “Chris Alastair“. He won several local performance awards and an artist grant as well as a 1998 national songwriting award, and recorded two CDs (available on iTunes and Amazon.) A YouTube video he created for a one-off comedy song, “Spring is Friggin’ Awesome,” has over 23,000 hits so far.

He has now come full circle and is again playing trumpet — as well as arranging, recording, and singing — with a variety of London orchestras (Amati, I Maestri), pop music groups (Tiger Moth), choral groups, and soundtrack composers.