Michael Christie (conductor)

This article is about the American conductor. For the American golfer, see Michael Christie.

Michael Christie (born 30 June 1974, Buffalo, New York) is an American conductor. He graduated from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music with a bachelor’s degree in trumpet performance. His conducting teachers have included Peter Jaffe, Eiji Oue, and Robert Spano.

Christie first came to international attention in 1995 when he received a special prize for "outstanding potential" at the First International Sibelius Conductor’s Competition in Helsinki at age 21. Following the competition, he became an apprentice conductor with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and subsequently worked with Daniel Barenboim, conducting both in Chicago and at the Berlin State Opera. From 1996 to 1998, he was associate conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic. Franz Welser-Möst named Christie assistant conductor at the Zurich Opera for the 1997-98 season.

Christie has been music director of the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder since 2000. In December 2004, Christie was appointed the 10th music director of the Phoenix Symphony, with an initial contract of 5 years from 2005 to 2010. In February 2008, the orchestra announced the extension of his contract to 2015. In August 2005, Christie was named the 5th music director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, with an initial contract of 3 years. His first Brooklyn Philharmonic concert as music director was in February 2006. In September 2007, the Brooklyn Philharmonic announced the extension of Christie's contract with the orchestra through the 2009-2010 season, with an evergreen clause to allow for yearly renewal.

From 2001 to December 2004, Christie was chief conductor of the Queensland Orchestra, and is now the orchestra's principal guest conductor. In 2006, he married in a ceremony in Australia.

References

External links

• Phoenix Symphony, biography of Michael Christie
• Colorado Music Festival page, with embedded link to Christie biography
• Michael Christie Web site
• Michael Christie at IMG Artists