Christopher Fisher-Lochhead

Vermont-based composer/performer Chris Fisher-Lochhead has blazed an idiosyncratic path through the landscape of contemporary music, creating works that have been lauded as “an imaginative tour de force” (Boston Globe), “cheerfully anarchic stuff” (Chicago Tribune), and “the subtle warping of effort and ease” (New York Times). Working across a broad range of styles and media, he has developed a creative practice which seeks to cultivate open, adventuresome, and playful spaces for musical and social experimentation. He has developed notated compositions in close partnership with some of the world’s most celebrated performers of new music, toured and recorded as an improviser, and participated in cutting-edge interdisciplinary research collaborations. In 2016, his string quartet Hack—described as a “knockout” by the New Yorker’s Alex Ross—was a centerpiece of the Spektral Quartet’s Grammy-nominated album Serious Business; as a founding member of the Grant Wallace Band, a group dedicated to stylistic alchemy and collective creativity, he has released numerous studio albums and performed across the country; and in December of 2023, New Focus Recordings released a portrait album titled Wake Up the Dead, featuring performances of his music by the JACK Quartet, Ensemble Dal Niente, Ben Roidl-Ward, and the Quince Ensemble. He holds degrees from the University of Michigan and Northwestern University and serves on the faculty of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.