about us
Chris Wild
Chris Wild is a Chicago-based cellist, conductor, music educator, and artist. As a cellist, he has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in major concert halls throughout the United States, Canada, England, and Germany, and in broadcasts on CTV National News (Canada) and WFMT Classical Radio (Chicago). An advocate for new music, Chris has performed countless world premieres in Chicago and abroad as a member of Ensemble Dal Niente and the string duo Wild and Wulliman. In addition to his concert appearances, he has presented lectures during past and upcoming residencies at the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music (Germany) and the University of Illinois, and has recorded for the Naxos and PARMA labels. Also a conductor and educator, he is Director of Orchestras at DeKalb High School, conducts Columbia College Chicago’s Cadre Ensemble, and is co-founder and conductor of The Music Room, a collective that performs contemporary music in public spaces. Recent guest conducting appearances of his include work with regional and youth orchestras throughout Illinois, multiple chamber ensembles, and concerts with the Pierre Monteux School Orchestra broadcasted on Maine Public Radio.
Chris began his cello studies in Vancouver, Canada, where he won first place in the Canadian Music Competition and made his solo debut with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. He obtained bachelors and masters degrees in cello performance and music education from the University of Michigan, where he studied cello with Erling Blöndal Bengtsson and Richard Aaron and won first place in the school’s Concerto Competition. Chris has studied conducting and rehearsal techniques at the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors, University of Illinois Conductors Workshop, WMEA Comprehensive Musicianship Project Workshop, and University of Michigan, and is now completing a Performer’s Certificate in Orchestral Conducting at Northern Illinois University.
As an educator, Chris is committed to a comprehensive music education that includes the development of musicianship for creative activities such as improvisation and composition. His first teaching job was as Assistant Artistic Director of the Saline Fiddlers; that experience and others inspired him to arrange music for string ensembles from a variety of sources. Chris also has experience in other arts disciplines, having used a grant from the City of Chicago to write and produce the music theater project A Day in Chicago in collaboration with Wild and Wulliman and a number of composers and performers. He is also a painter whose artwork has been displayed at Zolla/Lieberman Gallery in Chicago and 555 Gallery in Detroit. In his spare time, he enjoys hanging out with his wife, composer Eliza Brown.