Columbia Artists — Christopher Allen

Conductors

Christopher Allen

John L. Magro Resident Conductor, Cincinnati Opera; The 2017 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award Recipient

'In the pit, Conductor Christopher Allen ruled with a sure hand and a full heart, wringing passion and pathos out of his musicians in equal measure.”
—James Sohre, Opera Today, July 27, 2017 - ‘Grapes of Wrath’ at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis'

"In his OTSL debut, conductor Christopher Allen, winner of the 2017 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award, was impressive in his command of the score and maintaining a good balance with the stage."
—Sarah Bryan Miller, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 28, 2017 - 'Grapes of Wrath' at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis

"From the moment the three “Scarpia chords” appear (before the curtain goes up), a bolt of energy arrives from the pit, and comes back again and again, thanks to the idiomatic conducting of Christopher Allen. He draws every bit of Puccini’s grandeur from the musicians and then delivers the key moments of lyricism with suppleness and sensitivity."
—Rafael de Acha, Seen and Heard International, July 1, 2016 - 'Tosca' at the Cincinnati Opera

"In the pit, the orchestra turned in a glorious performance under resident conductor Christopher Allen. One of the most unforgettable moments was the prelude to Act III, with its stunning horn calls. Allen knew just how to breathe life into Puccini’s magnificent melodies, and the audience went home humming."
—Janelle Gelfand, Cincinnati Enquirer, July 24, 2016 - 'Tosca' at the Cincinnati Opera

"Down in the pit, the conductor Christopher Allen achieves something similar, bending, swaying, and pointing as Rossini’s phrases and colourings come and go. The orchestra responds too."
—Geoff Brown, The London Times - 'The Barber of Seville' at the English National Opera

"The Company's associate conductor Christopher Allen made an auspicious debut with a difficult assignment."
—Mark Swed, LA Times, April 25, 2015 - 'Hercules vs. Vampires' at Los Angeles Opera

About

The recipient of The 2017 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award, Christopher Allen has been featured in Opera News magazine as "one of the fastest-rising podium stars in North America." His conducting career was launched by the Bruno Walter Conducting Award and Memorial Career Grant and has been fostered by Plácido Domingo and James Conlon, who brought him to Los Angeles Opera as an Associate Conductor.

In the 2018-19 season, Mo. Allen makes several important debuts, leading Ne Quittez Pas at Opera Philadelphia, Candide at New England Conservatory, and . . . The Barber of Seville at Michigan Opera Theatre. He returns to Opera Theatre of St. Louis to conduct The Marriage of Figaroand serves as music director of the Bel Canto Trio’s 70th anniversary tour, featuring rising young opera stars in the program originally toured by Mario Lanza, George London, and Frances Yeend. On the concert stage, Mo. Allen leads a program of Bernstein repertoire with the Atlanta Symphony, and will make his Lyric Opera of Chicago debut conducting the Rising Stars Concert in spring 2019.

Featured in Musical America’s “25 Stars Still Rising,” Mo. Allen has recently conducted a new production of La Traviata at Opera Theatre of St. Louis, the North Carolina premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain at North Carolina Opera, La fille du regiment at Atlanta Opera, Impressions de Pelléas at North Carolina School of the Arts, and Il barbiere di Siviglia at Aspen Music Festival. As The John L. Magro Resident Conductor for Cincinnati Opera, Mo. Allen has joined the company for three consecutive seasons to conduct Barrie Kosky's production of Die Zauberflöte, a new production of Tosca, and the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s Morning Star, in addition to leading the Cincinnati Symphony in the annual Washington Park Concert each summer.

Mo. Allen made his Washington National Opera debut in Donizetti’s La fille du regiment, his Lyric Opera of Kansas City debut in L’elisir d’amore, and Florida Grand Opera debut in Cuban-American composer Jorge Martín’s Before Night Falls. He led the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in a National Opera Association Award-winning production of Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas, and debuted at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in the new revised version of Ricky Ian Gordon’s Grapes of Wrath, named Opera of the Year by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Mo. Allen’s well-received Atlanta Symphony Orchestra debut, conducting a program of Wagner, Tchaikovsky, and Beethoven, led to an immediate re-engagement.

Nominated as a finalist in the International Opera Awards in the “Newcomer” category, Mo. Allen made his UK debut conducting The Barber of Seville at the English National Opera and his Asian debut conducting the same work at the Daegu Opera House. He made his Los Angeles Opera conducting debut in Patrick Morganelli’s Hercules vs. Vampires, and returned to the company to lead musical preparation for The Ghosts of Versailles, which won a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording.

The recipient of a 2016 Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award, Mo. Allen is also an award-winning pianist who has played at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He is currently working on a writing and film project that explores the importance of the arts in modern American society.

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