Scottish Opera, Connect Company

Director

Past Productions: Bizet Dr Miracle, Copland The Second Hurricane,  Deazley The Dr Ferret 'Bad Medicine' Roadshow, Dove The Walk from the Garden, Gough On the Rim of the World (Scottish Premier), Lunn Misper (Scottish Premier). McIver The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (World Premier Performances, April '16), Mozart Don Giovanni (excerpts), Murphy Anamchara (World Premiere), Purcell Dido and Aeneas (excerpts), Weill Der Jasager, Down in the Valley

Orchestral Concerts: Beethoven Ah Perfido ,Bizet Carmen Suites No.1 and No.2, Britten Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Elgar Sea Pictures, Mendelssohn Hebrides Overture, Poulenc Sinfonietta, Prokofiev Peter and the Wolf , Puccini Symphonic Prelude, Verdi Nabucco Overture, Wagner Overture Die Meistersingers, Siegfried Idyll

Forthcoming Productions/Concerts:  Purcell Dido and Aeneas (2017). Opera Sparks, Three newly commissioned 15 minute operas to celebrate Connect Company’s 10^th Anniversary

Encouraging New Opera 2014 - 2016
 (a collaborative programme creating new 15 minute Operas with under-gradute students at the University of Aberdeen)
 October '14 - McNamee/Potts Solace, Stollery/Leonard Natures House
 October '15 - Davies/Potts New work, Relph/Campbell New Work

Choral and Symphonic Repertoire

Bartok 1^st Rhapsody, Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 1,2,3,5,7, Bizet Carmen Suites No.1 and No.2, Bernstein Symphonic Dances from Westside Story, Blake The Snowman, Brahms Symphony No.1, Britten Sinfonia Da Requiem, Festival Te Deum, Te Deum in C, Borodin Symphony No.2, Copland Old American Songs, Delius The Walk to the Paradise Garden, Dvorak Czech Suite, Romance for Violin and Orchestra, Elgar Bavarian Dances, Nimrod, The Music Makers, Sea Pictures, Faure Requiem, Gershwin Overture to Girl Crazy, Rhapsody in Blue, Greig Norwegian Dances, Haydn Symphony No.44 'Trauer', The Seven Last Words of Christ, Symphony No.94 ‘Surprise’, Holst The Planets, McGuire Concerto for Double Bass (Tom Berry) Fiddlers Farwell, Mahler Kindertotenlieder, Mendelssohn Hebrides Overture, Violin Concerto No.1, Mozart Ave Verum Corpus, Requiem (soloists including Dame Emma Kirkby), Symphony No.40, Violin Concerto No.3, Mussorgsky (orch. Various) Pictures at an Exhibition, Puccini Symphonic Prelude, Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances, Rodney-Bennett Farnham Festival Overture, Respighi Pines of Rome, Shostakovich Cello Concerto, Piano Concert No.2, Suite for Variety Orchestra, Symphony No.5, No.1, Sibelius Pelleas and Mellisande Suite, Symphony No.2, Smetana Ma Vlast (Complete), Strauss Four Last Song (soloist Judith Howarth), Tchaikovsky Marche Slave, Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, Tippet Five Negro Spirituals, Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs (with Caledonian Voices), Lark Ascending, Serenade to Music (with Caledonian Voices), Wagner Meistersingers Overture, Renzi Overture, Walton Crown Imperial,

I most recently performed Strauss, Four Last Songs with Chris and he made my performance most enjoyable and easy to sing. He has a terrific, friendly way about him and is excellent at getting the best out of both choirs and orchestras. I certainly look forward to him conducting me again.
-Dr Judith Howarth, International Opera Singer/Teacher

Chris always manages to balance leading, support and accompanying perfectly when conducting which makes a singers job so much easier. With his innate musicianship, it’s always a wonderful creative experience each time I sing for him.
-Andrew McTaggart, Opera Singer