Our Conductor

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. While in West Lafayette, he also works part-time for Purdue University’s Band & Orchestras department which currently offers four orchestras and many WVYS graduates as members. At Purdue, Chris teaches the Symphony Orchestra and University Orchestra classes, working together with Purdue’s Director of Orchestras, Professor Adam Bodony. Before moving to Indianapolis with his wife, Chris worked in Chicago and southwest Michigan, spending four years as Conductor of the Andrews University Symphony Orchestra and teaching cellists at both Andrews and the University of Notre Dame. Earlier in Chicago, he served as Orchestra Director for the DeKalb public school district and joined Ensemble Dal Niente as its cellist. As a member of Dal Niente since 2007, Chris has performed with the ensemble on eight albums and toured across North and South America and Europe.

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. After working in Chicago, Chris returned to school and completed a DMA in Orchestral Conducting at Northwestern University, studying with Victor Yampolsky. 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!