Dr. Chris Wild is proud to serve the excellent music students of Indiana’s Wabash River valley as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Wabash Valley Youth Symphony. Before moving to Indianapolis with his wife, Chris worked in the tri-state Michiana region, spending four years as Conductor of the Andrews University Symphony Orchestra and teaching cellists at both Andrews and the University of Notre Dame. Prior to that, he worked as a cellist, conductor and educator in the Chicago area, serving as Orchestra Director for the DeKalb public school district and joining Ensemble Dal Niente as its cellist in 2007. A decade later, he returned to school and completed a DMA in Orchestral Conducting at Northwestern University, studying with Victor Yampolsky. Since moving to Indiana, he has also guest conducted all four of Purdue University’s symphonic and string orchestras.
Chris began his musical studies began as a cellist in Vancouver, Canada. After putting in many practice hours, his earliest musical accomplishments include placing first in the strings category of the Canadian Music Competition and performing Elgar’s Cello Concerto as soloist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. A dual citizen, he moved stateside to attend the University of Michigan, where he studied cello with Erling Blöndal Bengtsson and Richard Aaron and won first place in the school’s Concerto Competition. While at Michigan, he also developed interests in conducting and music education and stayed to complete a MM in music education. Over the past decade, he has conducted a variety of professional orchestras, including the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Peninsula Music Festival, Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra & Chorus, South Bend Symphony Orchestra and Windsor Symphony Orchestra. Chris especially enjoys working with student orchestras, which is both the most challenging and rewarding!