Michael Christie
The American conductor Michael Christie currently holds two music directorships—at the Phoenix Symphony and the Brooklyn Philharmonic—both of which he assumed in September 2005. He also serves as Music Director of the Colorado Summer Music Festival and Principal Guest Conductor of the Queensland Orchestra in Australia. He has guest conducted the Atlanta Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Oregon Symphony and Vancover Symphony, among others. In Europe his orchestral engagements have included concerts in England, France, the Netherlands, Germany and throughout Scandanavia. Mr. Christie also enjoys a strong profile in Australia, where aside from his role as Chief Conductor of the Queensland Orchestra (which ended in December 2004), he has conducted the Sydney Symphony, Tasmanian Symphony, Opera Queensland and the Western Australian Symphony.

Mr. Christie also has established a reputation as an opera conductor. He was assistant conductor to Franz Welser-Möst at the Opernhaus, Zurich, where he made his debut conducting Romeo and Juliet. He conducted The Marriage of Figaro at Finnish National Opera and in 2004 made a successful opera debut in The Netherlands conducting Adams’ The Death of Klinghoffer with the Rotterdam Philharmonic.

Michael Christie graduated from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music with a bachelor’s degree in trumpet performance. His conducting teachers have included Robert Spano, Eiji Oue and Peter Jaffee. He first came to international attention in 1995 when he was awarded a special prize for “Outstanding Potential” at the First International Sibelius Conductor’s Competition in Helsinki. Subsequently he was invited to become an apprentice conductor with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, where he worked with Daniel Barenboim.

Mr. Christie made his Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra debut at Music Hall in January 2001.