About Chris

Chris began studying the violin in the 4th grade in his school Suzuki program in the New Orleans area in 1985. He has been playing for over 40 years! His first teacher, Lee Coker a graduate of the Juilliard School, was a disciple of the famous pedagog, Sevcik, who shared the importance of good technique and a well trained bow arm with his students. 

Chris was a member of the Louisiana All State Orchestra all four years of high school and was assistant concertmaster twice. He was also a four year member of the All South Honors Orchestra and was the concertmaster his senior year. Also in his senior year, he was in the 1st violin section of the National High School Honors Orchestra and also won the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra’s Young Artists’ Competition and performed the Bruch violin concerto with that ensemble. 

He first attended the University of Southern Mississippi on full scholarship where he studied with Galamian disciple, Jerry Cadek Lucktenberg. After her retirement, Chris continued his studies with Patrick Rafferty on violin and Maggie Snyder on viola at the University of Alabama.

While studying at Alabama, Chris was a teaching assistant for two summers at Brevard Music Center in North Carolina. Before completing school, Chris won his first job with the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra in 1998 at the age of 21. He subsequently auditioned successfully for the viola section of the same orchestra. In 2011, he accepted the post of Principal Viola in the Orquesta Filarmonica de Honduras for a year. 

Chris has held many positions in professional orchestras as both a violinist and violist. Some of the ensembles include the Gulf Coast Symphony, Meridian Symphony, Mobile Symphony, Tupelo Symphony, Mississippi Symphony, Pensacola Symphony, Chattanooga Symphony, and the Las Cruces and El Paso symphonies. 

Soloists and Artists Chris have worked/performed with include: Van Cliburn, Itzhak Perlman, Yo Yo Ma, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Leila Josefowicz, Emanuel Axe, Doc Severinsen, the Emerson Quartet, Roberto Diaz, Alyssa Weilerstein, Bela Fleck, Robert McDuffy, Augustin Hadelich, and Vadim Gluzman to name a few. 

Chris has soloed on the violin and the viola with orchestras including the Louisiana Philharmonic and the Crescent City Civic Orchestra on violin, and the Huntsville Sinfonietta on the Viola.

He has maintained a violin and viola studio since 2007 and moved to El Paso in 2017 where he currently teaches and resides with this wife Holly, daughter Autumn, and their two dogs. Chris studies Suzuki Violin with teacher-trainer, David Strom and plans to complete all ten books with him as well as practicum. Chris is listed in the teacher directory at the official Suzuki Association of America website.