Biography
We see Lady Macbeth in a dozen crooning silhouettes washing blood out of rags in a bathroom; hear Stravinsky pouring out of an abandoned warehouse; watch a violinist cutting himself out of duct tape with a razor as his amplified violin sits gathering feedback; and witness as a long lost John Adams suite comes alive at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Conductor and composer Christopher Rountree is standing at the intersection of classical music, new music, performance art and pop.
Rountree, 33, is the founder, conductor and creative director of the pathbreaking L.A. chamber orchestra wild Up. The group has been called “Searing. Penetrating. And Thrilling” by NPR’s Performance Today and named “Best Classical Music of 2015” by the New York Times. wild Up started in 2010 with no funding and no musicians, driven only by Rountree’s vision of a world-class orchestra that creates visceral, provocative experiences that are unmoored from classical traditions.