Chris is a composer of contemporary classical music—think somewhere between John Williams and John Tavener—with recent works ranging from small chamber pieces written for friends to a fanfare recorded with the Budapest Scoring Orchestra. (He is also a software engineer, writer, and more.)

He began composing in earnest in 7th grade, when he wrote an orchestral arrangement of Martin Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” for a local Clavinova Festival. Although he continued studying piano, with a widening focus on popular and improvisatory styles for a church worship band, his emphasis over the course of high school shifted increasingly to pure composition.

He continued studying composition in the University of Oklahoma’s School of Music, completing the full course of composition studies under Dr. Marvin Lamb while graduating with a Bachelor’s of Physics.

After graduation, he continued composing occasionally, but the busyness of being early in a career in software development, the addition of two delightful daughters, and a graduate degree pushed music to the side throughout much of the 2010’s. In 2020, he jumped back into composing with his Fanfare for a New Era of American Spaceflight, written in honor of the SpaceX Crew Dragon Demo launch, and has not stopped since.