Music Director, Chris A. Bowman

Chris A. Bowman is a multifaceted musician with credits as a conductor, award-winning composer, arranger, organist, pianist, trumpet player and tenor soloist. He is equally at home with classical, popular or jazz styles of music. Currently, he is the Conductor/Composer-in-Residence of the Santa Ynez Valley Master Chorale, Orchestra, Chamber Singers, Youth Chorale and Children’s Chorus; and a musician, composer, arranger for WavePoint Productions.

Mr. Bowman has conducted and directed orchestras, choirs, and various ensembles at The Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara, the Aspen Music Festival, the Oregon Bach Festival, California Institute of the Arts, College of the Canyons, California State University-Northridge, the Los Angeles Music Center, and throughout Southern California.

His award-winning Sanctus was selected to be recorded by the Kiev Philharmonic & Chorus. It is available on Masterworks of the New Era, Volume VI, by ERM Media with worldwide distribution. Sanctus is receiving further distribution with Platinum Music in the United Kingdom.

He is the recipient of two Artist-in-Residence grants from the Santa Barbara Foundation and the James Irvine Foundation. The results of these two grants are Alleluia and Celebrate, both for chorus and orchestra. Collaborating with lyricist, Cathleen McIsaac, Mr. Bowman has composed a new musical, Toad Hall, based on The Wind in the Willows.

O Come Let Us Sing, for choir, piano and orchestra, is the result of a grant from the John Imbach III Foundation. His instrumental piece, Time and Texture, was awarded First Place in a composition competition sponsored by the Los Angeles Valley Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Bowman was commissioned by the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival in Kansas City, Missouri to compose and orchestrate music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Another commission, by the Chester Miniature Theater of Massachusetts, resulted in the music for Cock-A-Doodle-Doo, and was also a collaboration with lyricist, Cathleen McIsaac. He has composed and arranged music for film and videos. He appeared on the television special, A Beverly Hills Christmas with Jimmy Stewart, Lucile Ball and Bobby McFarrin. Mr. Bowman was awarded a full scholarship to attend the French Organ Music Seminar in Paris, which included sessions on the famous instruments of Notre-Dame Cathedral, Sainte-Clotilde, Saint-Sulpice, the Schola Cantorum, La Trinite and numerous other cathedrals around Paris. At the Cathedral in Chartre, Mr. Bowman played his Rondo in D, to rave reviews by his fellow colleagues. Recently, Mr. Bowman’s Gloria, Rondo in D, and other arrangements received performances in Concord, Massachusetts. At the American Guild of Organists National Convention in Philadelphia, Mr. Bowman played the 112 rank, Curtis Memorial Organ at Christ Church.

As a tenor soloist, Mr. Bowman has performed with the Roger Wagner Chorale, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, The Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra, I Cantori, The Cambridge Singers of Los Angeles, The Southern California Choral Society, The Ventura Master Chorale, The Santa Barbara Master Chorale, The Santa Barbara Choral Society, the Lompoc Pops Orchestra and The Lompoc Master Chorale. He has performed roles with Texas Opera Theater – the touring subdivision of Houston Grand Opera, The Viennese Volksoper of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Valley Opera and the Los Angeles Music Theater Company. He has done understudy roles with The Aspen Music Festival and The Santa Fe Opera.

As a member of different vocal ensembles he has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, the Hollywood Bowl, the Lobero Theater in Santa Barbara, and the Oregon Bach Festival. Mr. Bowman was a back-up vocalist for the Sarah Brightman World Tour at the Santa Barbara Bowl. He collaborated with Giorgio Tozzi in productions of Amahl and the Night Visitors at Pepperdine University, Malibu. He has done numerous recordings with various labels, including Warner Brothers, Delos and Sony, and was involved in the release of The King and I with Julie Andrews. Mr. Bowman participated in Encore of the Three Tenors, featuring Carreras, Domingo, Pavarotti and Mehta, at Dodger Stadium. He appeared with Jean Stapleton in the Los Angeles Music Center production of Oklahoma! Mr. Bowman was a back-up vocalist for Danny Elfman on Night Breed.

As a keyboard player, trumpet player, vocalist and arranger he toured the country with The Open Road. He is equally at home singing classical, popular or jazz styles of music. Mr. Bowman studied voice with Elisabeth Parham and Michael Sells in Los Angeles. He has coached privately with James Atherton of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and William Dooley of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Mr. Bowman received his formal training at the University of Southern California and California State University-Northridge. He holds a double Master of Music Degree in Conducting and Vocal Performance with additional study in Composition, Organ and Trumpet.