Chris McCracken - répétiteur/conductor

Chris is Principal Guest Conductor at State Opera Stara Zagora, Bulgaria.

After Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester (piano, violin), a Licentiateship of the Royal Academy of Music in piano performance, Trinity College Cambridge (an MA in Music) and a year as répétiteur at the National Opera Studio, Chris studied conducting with Rolf Reuter at the Komische Oper, Berlin.

He spent 3 years at Theater Hagen as répétiteur and conductor, conducting numerous operas and operettas, and was a guest conductor at Oper Leipzig, Staatstheater Cottbus and in other German cities.

In July 2017 he won first prize at the Blue Danube International Opera Conducting Competition in Rousse, Bulgaria, conducting a performance of Madama Butterfly. Prize engagements include Belgrade (Don Giovanni), Ostrava (Un Ballo in Maschera) and Bulgaria (La Traviata).

In 2018 he conducted Don Carlos in Argentina and made his debut with Sofia Philharmonic; he began 2019 as conductor of Stara Zagora’s New Year Concert of ballet, opera and operetta and in October conducted Weill’s Mahagonny Songspiel, Sieben Todsünden, and Hindemith’s Hin und Zurück at Sofia Festival of Chamber Operas.

Chris is in demand as a vocal coach and accompanist. He has coached at Covent Garden and Teatro  Colón, and gave masterclasses in opera repertoire at the international music festival in Prishtina, Kosovo.

Repertoire comprises some 30-40 operas ranging from Cavalli’s La Calisto to the contemporary Masque of Orfeus by John Robertson.