Conductor Christopher Swaffer CONTACT: To EMAIL Paste the line below into your address bar info [at] christopherswaffer.com then replace [at] with @ - no spaces WEBSITE SOUND ON: Now playing - Excerpt from Takemitsu's Archipelago S. forthcoming engagements

Christopher was educated at Chetham's School of Music and holds a Masters degree in composition and conducting from the University of Manchester where he studied with John Casken and Garry Walker. He has studied privately with Clark Rundell (RNCM) and Denise Ham (RAM) and has actively participated in many masterclasses both in the UK and abroad, including classes with Colin Metters (St. Petersburg), Harold Farberman (New York) and George Hurst (RAM, London). Christopher is currently Artistic Director of the Auricle Ensemble and the Scottish Chamber Music Players, has guest conducted for the Slaithwaite Philharmonic Orchestra, and is Principal Conductor of the Edinburgh Festival Symphony Orchestra with whom he performed Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony, the Leningrad, alongside the Scottish premiere of Takemitsu's Archipelago S. Christopher's passion for new music has seen him conduct many premieres, including the UK premiere of the Ives Society Critical Edition of Charles Ives' Second Symphony. He made his debut with the Ukrainian State Symphony Orchestra, performing a world premiere alongside Copland's Music for Theatre and Dvorák's Ninth Symphony. With contemporary music group Ensemble 11, he conducted a Composition Symposium of seven world premieres at the Royal Northern College of Music. In other genres, he made his debut with the Metropolitan Ensemble in a concert of baroque concerti in Covent Garden, London and was also recently Assistant Conductor for a performance of Mahler's Second Symphony at Bridgewater Hall, Manchester. As well as his professional commitments, Christopher has also been music director or guest conductor of over thirty amateur, youth and university orchestras and is a conducting consultant for both 'musicinset.com', and the NOTION Conducting software and syllabus, delivering training across Europe.

"revelatory...gorgeous...compelling...characterful...ravishing...****" Michael Tumelty, Chief Music Critic, The Herald (Oct 2010, Mahler's Fourth Symphony)
"a delicate, technically impeccable and sensitive reading" The Herald, Oct 2009 (Schoenberg Pierrot Lunaire)

FORTHCOMING CONCERTS: Future engagements include: Holst's Planets for Glasgow University orchestra's 20th anniversary; a two year 'Mini-Mahler' project with the Auricle Ensemble culminating with 'Das Lied von der Erde' reduced for chamber ensemble; Peter Maxwell Davies '8 Songs for a Mad King' and 'Miss Donnithorne's Maggot'; Kurt Weill's 'Threepenny Opera' and a UK tour of Walton's Facade.