Michael Christie became the Virginia G. Piper Music Director of the Phoenix Symphony in August 2005 and Music Director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic in September 2005. With his orchestras, he has embarked on a series of ambitious projects focusing on interdisciplinary collaborations with visual artists, dance companies and theater groups, as well as on contemporary composers such as Gorecki, Ligeti, Adams, Golijov and Tan Dun. He is also Music Director of the Colorado Music Festival, where he has been highly praised for his innovative programming and where festival audiences are now at an all-time high.
In 2006-2007, Christie made highly successful debuts with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, while continuing to build a strong presence in Phoenix and Brooklyn. He also made return performances with the Cincinnati, St. Louis and Dallas Symphony orchestras. In the U.S. he has conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Florida Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, Oregon Symphony and Indianapolis Symphony, among many others. In the 2007-2008 season, Christie appeared as guest conductor with the San Antonio Symphony, Houston Symphony, Utah Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and San Diego Symphony. He also conducted the KBS Orchestra in Korea and the Nagoya Symphony in Japan.
In Europe his career has been equally successful, with past engagements including the DSO Berlin, Orchestre National de Lille, Swedish Radio Symphony, the Netherlands Radio Symphony, the City of Birmingham Symphony, the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, the NDR Hannover Orchestra and the Czech Philharmonic. His ties to orchestras in Scandanavia have been particularly strong with engagements in all five countries.
Michael Christie 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. Following the competition, Mr. Christie was invited to become an apprentice conductor with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and subsequently worked with Daniel Barenboim, both in Chicago and at the Berlin State Opera during the 1996-1997 season. 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 Jaffe.