Mr. Chris Pilsner, Composer In Residence

Composer and conductor Chris Pilsner is becoming an established name in the contemporary classical world. His music for orchestra, wind ensemble, and chamber ensembles has been acclaimed by audiences, performers, and conductors worldwide and receives hundreds of performances every year. Recordings of these works can be found throughout YouTube, garnering over 200,000 views.

In the concert hall, Chris’s music has been performed by groups as diverse as professional ensembles, universities, high schools, all-state/honor ensembles, and even in Carnegie Hall. He has also been commissioned by/recorded with professional orchestras across the world including the Vienna Synchron Stage Orchestra, Fort Collins Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Session Orchestra and the Budapest Scoring Orchestra. In 2019, he traveled to Vienna to conduct the Vienna Synchron Stage Orchestra in a recording session of all his works for string orchestra, which were released on his EP Album Elements in August of 2019. Recently, he returned to Vienna to record his works for wind ensemble, which will be released on a new album, due in early 2026.

Chris’s music can also be heard in the world of film where he most recently composed the score to feature length documentary Finding Daylight in 2021. He was also the winner of the Film Scoring Academy of Europe’s Call for Scores Award in 2020.

As a conductor, Chris served as the Director of Orchestras at Windsor High School in Colorado from 2014-2019. Now a full-time composer and conductor, he regularly appears as a guest conductor/clinician with schools, honor bands/orchestras, and other ensembles across the nation. Because of his experience as a teacher, Chris is an avid supporter of music education and strives to keep creating new and original works for young individuals across the world.

Chris holds a Masters of Music in Composition at Central Michigan University where he studied with renowned composer David Gillingham. He also holds two Bachelor’s degrees from the University of Northern Colorado in Music Composition and Music Education.

Chris is a member of ASCAP and proudly self-published through his publishing company Zicato Music.