BM St. Olaf College
About
Christopher Windle is a conductor, tenor, and educator based in Chicago, IL.
Most recently, Windle was appointed the Artistic & Music Director of the William Ferris Chorale – only the third person to hold this position in the ensemble’s more than 50 years. The William Ferris Chorale is a professional choral ensemble dedicated to bringing the music of contemporary composers to life through commissioning, collaboration, and performance.
He continues to lead the Chicago Chamber Choir as Artistic Director, a position he has held since 2017. Under his direction, the choir has been hailed as “… an ensemble to seek out in a crowded field” (Vocal Arts Chicago). The Chicago Chamber Choir is a 40 voice, avocational ensemble committed to creating experiences that engage the community in high quality choral art.
Windle also serves as the Associate Director of Music & Choirmaster at the Church of the Atonement in Chicago, IL. Here he conducts the Schola, Atonement Choir, and St. Cecilia Choir. These choirs sing weekly choral mass and bi-weekly evensong, and have over 60 choral masses in their repertoire.
Windle teaches at DePaul University School of Music where he conducts the Chamber Choir. Previously, he served on the faculties of Benedictine University as Instructor of Choral Studies and Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music.
Past projects have included work with Constellation Men's Ensemble (CME) as Artistic Consultant and conductor. In this role, he conducted numerous world premieres for men’s voices on the NOVA concert series, and in 2019 began the NOVA Editions music series, where he works – as its Editor – to expand the repertoire for tenor and bass voices by making the works premiered by CME available to other choirs.
He has conducted and prepared choirs including the Bridge Ensemble (Baltimore), the Chicago Bar Association Chorus, Singing City (Philadelphia), the Maryland State Boychoir, the Pennsylvania Girlchoir, the Northfield Youth Choirs (Minnesota), Temple University, and Northwestern University's choral and opera departments.
Equally at home as a tenor, Windle has sung in professional choirs throughout the country, including the Crossing, Chicago’s Music of the Baroque, the Grant Park Chorus, the South Dakota Chorale, Bella Voce, and the Philadelphia Singers.
Windle has studied with conductors including Dr. Donald Nally, Dr. Paul Rardin, Dr. Rollo Dilworth, Dr. Anton Armstrong, Dr. Andrew Megill, and Helmuth Rilling. He holds a BM in Church Music from St. Olaf College, an MM in Choral Conducting from Temple University, and a DMA in Choral Conducting from Northwestern University.