Christopher Seaman is in his eleventh season as Music Director of the Rochester Philharmonic, where he has been credited for broadening the orchestra’s audience base and, in particular, for his creation of the lecture series “Symphony 101”, which recently won an ASCAP award. Appointed Artistic Advisor of the San Antonio Symphony, Mr. Seaman previously served a ten-year tenure as music director of the Naples Philharmonic in Florida, and prior to that as conductor-in-residence of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (1987-1998).  Sought-after as a guest conductor throughout the world, Mr. Seaman has appeared with orchestras in North America, Israel, Eastern Europe, the Far East, Australia and New Zealand, as well as in his native Great Britain, where he has served as Principal Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony and the Northern Sinfonia ... read full bio

Christopher Seaman is in his eleventh season as Music Director of the Rochester Philharmonic, where he has been credited for broadening the orchestra’s audience base and, in particular, for his creation of the lecture series “Symphony 101”, which recently won an ASCAP award. Appointed Artistic Advisor of the San Antonio Symphony, Mr. Seaman previously served a ten-year tenure as music director of the Naples Philharmonic in Florida, and prior to that as conductor-in-residence of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (1987-1998).  Sought-after as a guest conductor throughout the world, Mr. Seaman has appeared with orchestras in North America, Israel, Eastern Europe, the Far East, Australia and New Zealand, as well as in his native Great Britain, where he has served as Principal Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony and the Northern Sinfonia.     

As a guest conductor in North America, Mr. Seaman’s 2009-10 season will include engagements with the symphony orchestras of Seattle, Columbus, Omaha and Utah. He has previously conducted the orchestras of Atlanta, Houston, Cincinnati, Colorado, Detroit, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Saint Louis, and Toronto, among others.    

Abroad, Mr. Seaman appears regularly with such orchestras as the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, the Czech Philharmonic, the Bergen Philharmonic and the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. He has returned regularly to Australia where he has conducted the Sydney and Melbourne symphony orchestras. In the United Kingdom, Mr. Seaman has worked with all of the London orchestras, the City of Birmingham Symphony, the Bournemouth Symphony, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Ulster Orchestra and the various BBC orchestras.   

His recordings include performances with the Royal Philharmonic, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Britain. In 1990 he collaborated with Anne Akiko Meyers and the Royal Philharmonic for a recording of the Barber Violin Concerto and Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1. Recently, he has released a recording of works by Tchaikovsky with pianist Olga Kern, as well as a recording of works by Rachmaninov with Jon Nakamatsu, both for the Harmonia Mundi label.  Both of these recordings were performed with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and received considerable critical acclaim.

As part of his commitment to training young musicians, he holds the post of Chief Guest Conductor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.  Mr. Seaman makes a point of encouraging young talent and in the 2002-03 season, in addition to working with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, he spent a ten-day teaching residency at the American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival and School where he returned in summer 2009.  As a result of the success of past master classes with Symphony Australia, he was invited to take the post of Conducting Course Director, which was previously held by Jorma Panula. Christopher Seaman has also had a long association with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.

After studying at King’s College, Cambridge, Mr. Seaman began his career as a member of the London Philharmonic. Within four years, he had moved in front of the podium as assistant conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony in Glasgow. He has since appeared exclusively as a conductor. In May 2009 he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Musical Arts by the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY.

Last updated September 2009. Contact Opus 3 Artists for the most up-to-date version.