Christian Kriegeskotte (BFA, MM) is a composer and performing arts professional with nearly two decades of experience in film and television, artist management and tour production, video games, the recording industry and symphony orchestra administration. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Music in composition and conducting from Carnegie Mellon University School of Music. His primary teachers have been Leonardo Balada, Nancy Galbraith, Fabien Levy and Robert Page. While his degrees were awarded in composition and conducting, Christian started his formal education in 1998 as Carnegie Mellon’s second ever performance major in the Highland Bagpipe under the tutelage of Pipe Majors Alasdair Gillies and James McIntosh, MBE.

After completing his BFA in 2003 and returning to his hometown in the New York City suburbs, Christian’s demo reel garnered the attention of an executive at Disney Music. Christian relocated to Los Angeles and with the help of his friends at Disney landed a gig with Hollywood’s premier music preparation studio, JoAnn Kane Music Service. This officially started his career as a Union studio orchestra musician (AFM Local 47) in Hollywood. Working as a copyist, Christian found himself creating and editing orchestral scores and parts for some of Hollywood’s most legendary composers including John Williams, John Debney, Marco Beltrami, Danny Elfman, Alf Clausen and many others.

Between 2003 and 2005 Christian worked in the music departments of films including Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Stephen Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, Robert Rodruiguez’s Sin City, the animated feature film Robots, Idiocracy, Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Skeleton Key, The Longest Yard, The World’s Fastest Indian, The Interpreter, Hide and Seek, Meet the Fockers, The Pacifier, Red Eye, XXX 2: State of the Union, Ice Princess, The Fantastic Four, Elektra and others. Christian additionally prepared music for two seasons of The Simpsons, Family Guy, King of the Hill and for the premiere season of American Dad. Additional credits include orchestral charts for Kanye West, medley scores for the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and charts for Paul Anka's 2005 album Rock Swings (featuring Anka's cover of "Blackhole Sun" by Soundgarden). As is sometimes required in our industry, he accomplished all of this while holding down part time jobs at Sam Ash Music and at the legendary Tower Records on the Sunset Strip.

Christian returned to New York in 2006 where he quickly found employment at the storied booking agency, Columbia Artists Management (CAMI). There, Christian rose to the position of Associate Producer on the management team of Broadway star Betty Buckley and the legendary songwriter, pianist and conductor Marvin Hamlisch (an EGOT and Pulitzer Prize recipient). A highlight of this time for Christian was accompanying the late Maestro Lorin Maazel on the inaugural tour of the Symphonica Toscanini in 2007.

That same year, Christian received a full scholarship to Carnegie Mellon University and pursued his Master’s degree in composition. In 2008 he was the recipient of the Marilyn and Ray Gindroz Travel Prize, which he used to fund travel across Eastern Europe, the Balkans and to Istanbul to study Orthodox Church Liturgies. Between 2008 and 2013 Christian’s compositions were performed by GRAMMY winning ensemble eighth blackbird, The Ethel Quartet, The Parker Quartet, Cuarteto Latinoamericano, The American Composers Orchestra, The New York Miniaturist Ensemble, IonSound Project and The Pittsburgh Opera. Christian was also contracted by Raw Thrills Entertainment, a Chicago-based arcade game designer, to compose a live score for Nicktoons Nitro.

In 2013 Christian again returned to New York City in pursuit of new opportunities. He initially found work as a booking agent for the Gotham Early Music Scene (GEMS NY). At this time Christian also began writing for the contemporary classical music blog I Care If You Listen and continues to do so. By 2014, Christian had found work with The Orchard, an indie record, film and television distributor. A short time after starting as a part-time copyright claims administrator, Sony Music Entertainment bought the company and Christian quickly ascended to the position of Director of Digital Integrations.

In 2023, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra premiered an entire concert of original compositions and arrangements Christian wrote in collaboration with EMMY Award winning rapper, Frzy. That same year, Christian accepted the invitation to join the Recording Academy as a voting member. As an orchestrator and arranger, Christian has additionally worked with the New York Pops and enjoyed performances of his work in New York's Carnegie Hall as recently as March 2024. At present, Christian serves as Senior Manager of Popular Programming for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

Christian Kriegeskotte

@ckriegeskotte