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Meet our conductors
Outside music, Chris qualified as an attorney in 2003 and maintains a growing legal practice in London, representing clients in the creative commercial sector.
Much though he loves to make music, more than anything Chris enjoys returning home to his wife Stephanie - who hails from the great Commonwealth of Kentucky - and their three girls Bella, Lyra and Ariana, each of whom loves to sing! He also enjoys explaining the rules of cricket, to anybody who will listen.
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Christopher Gabbitas was appointed Artistic Director of Phoenix Chorale in May 2019, and is delighted and honored to be leading an ensemble with such a rich tradition of spreading the joy of music through song!
Starting as an 8-year-old boy chorister in England, Chris has been singing ever since in various chapel, cathedral and professional choirs including three years as a choral scholar at St John’s College, Cambridge and a year as a lay clerk at Christ Church, Oxford, as well as directing choral ensembles throughout this time.
His singing career culminated in 15 years spent with The King’s Singers performing around 2,000 concerts across six continents, and making in excess of 50 recordings which were recognized with various awards including two Grammy Awards as a singer/ producer. In 2013 The King’s Singers were inducted into the inaugural Gramophone Hall of Fame.
Also in 2019, Chris was appointed as Artist Professor at the University of Redlands, California, teaching a unique Master of Music in Vocal Chamber Music with a Commercial Music element, which aims to produce professional choral musicians for the next generation. He maintains a busy teaching and per forming schedule across the US.
Tom Peterson - Assistant Conductor & Outreach Coordinator
Tom Peterson is the music director at Christ Church of the Ascension in Paradise Valley, and served for two years as Artistic Director of the Master Chorale of Flagstaff, where he initiated their Big Sing Flagstaff and Festival of Women Composers.
Tom is also a composer, and won the 2019 Stephen Paulus Emerging Composers Competition for his work, Being Many, Seeming One, which was subsequently published by E. C. Schirmer on the Dale Warland Choral Series. Tom is a graduate of Arizona State University, the University of Arizona, and the Royal College of Music.
