Christopher Rountree
You might hear Stravinsky pouring out of an abandoned warehouse; see dozens of watermelons fly off of Disney Hall; parse a chorus singing Haydn’s Creation backwards; see Lady Macbeth in a dozen crooning silhouettes washing blood out of rags over bright porcelain sinks in a museum bathroom; hear a violinist recite a poem about melting ice cream and lost love; watch three minutes of Le nozze for 12 hours on repeat; follow the archeology of a lost ballet coming to life; and listen to the sound of rose-petal jam making as music. Conductor, composer, curator, and performer, Christopher Rountree, is standing at the intersection of classical music, new music, performance art and pop.
Regarded as one of the most iconoclastic conductors in the field, Rountree’s inimitable style has led to collaborations with: Björk, John Adams, Yoko Ono, David Lang, Scott Walker, La Monte Young, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mica Levi, Alison Knowles, Patricia Kopatchinskja, John Luther Adams, Sigourney Weaver, Ted Hearne, Tyshawn Sorey, Ragnar Kjartansson, Missy Mazzoli, L’Rain, Caroline Shaw, Saul Williams, Ellen Reid, R.B. Schlather, James Darrah, Ryoji Ikeda, Du Yun, Yuval Sharon, and many of the planet’s greatest orchestras and ensembles, including the San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Houston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Opéra national de Paris, the Washington National Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and the Martha Graham Dance Company.
Rountree is Artistic Director of Wild Up, curator of Darkness Sounding, and Music Director of Long Beach Opera. He has been artistic director of an interdisciplinary ambient series in an oak grove in Los Angeles, called SILENCE, and curator of the LA Phil’s Fluxus Festival.