Conductors

Christopher Warren-Green

Conductor Laureate & Artistic Adviser

Following twelve years as Music Director, British conductor Christopher Warren-Green now serves as Conductor Laureate and Artistic Adviser to the Charlotte Symphony and Music Director of the London Chamber Orchestra. Warren-Green is Chair of the Foundation for Young Musicians and in 2022, he celebrated a professional career spanning 50 years. 

During the 2023-24 season, highlights include returns to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Macau Orchestra, and three visits with Romanian Radio Chamber Orchestra. Further highlights include performances with the Charlotte Symphony where Warren-Green conducts Swan Lake and Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 1 respectively, as well as engagements with the London Chamber Orchestra where he joins forces with soloists Ben Goldscheider and Jess Gillam. 

Warren-Green has conducted eminent orchestras around the world, including The Philadelphia Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Detroit, Houston, St. Louis, Toronto, Milwaukee, Seattle, and Vancouver symphony orchestras, and the National Symphony Orchestra Washington D.C. In the UK, Warren-Green has worked with Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and Royal Scottish National orchestras. In Europe, he has conducted Orchestre National de Belgique, Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, Orchestre National de Montpelier, Zürcher Kammerorchester, RTÉ Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, and in East Asia the Hong Kong Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Yomiuri Nippon, Singapore, Sapporo, and KBS symphony orchestras. 

In addition to international commitments, Warren-Green has been honored to conduct regularly for the British royal family at events including the wedding services of HM King Charles III and HM Queen Camilla, TRH The Prince and Princess of Wales, and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Warren-Green conducted the London Chamber Orchestra on the occasion of Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's 80th birthday and Philharmonia Orchestra for Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's 90th birthday concert at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, as well as HM King Charles's 60th birthday concert in Buckingham Palace, and on other Royal occasions. 

As a conductor, he has recorded extensively for Sony, Philips, Virgin, EMI, Chandos, Decca, Deutsche Gramophone, and records with the London Chamber Orchestra for Signum Classics. As a soloist, he has recorded Mendelssohn, Mozart, and Vivaldi concerti and appeared as soloist extensively in Europe most notably with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields in the Berlin Philharmonie.

Warren-Green began his career at the age of seventeen, and at the age of twenty-one was named Concertmaster of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, followed by Philharmonia Orchestra under Ricardo Muti. At age twenty-five, Warren-Green became concertmaster of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields under Sir Neville Marriner. He has served as a juror for many international competitions including the Prague Spring Conducting, the Wieniawski Violin, and Hong Kong Piano competitions. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, having been a professor there for eight years, and has appeared and presented numerous times on television and radio, most notably for the BBC Proms.

---

Christopher James Lees

Resident Conductor

Emerging American conductor Christopher James Lees brings passionate and nuanced orchestral performances to the stage, a fierce commitment to contemporary music, and a natural charisma to audiences all around the world.

In 2018, Mr. Lees began an appointment as Resident Conductor of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and Principal Conductor of the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestra. In addition to the more than 50 annual concert appearances with the CSO, he has stepped in to conduct Subscription Classical performances on four occasions, including a gala weekend with Grammy Award winning artist and Jazz legend Branford Marsalis in May 2021.

An active guest conductor, Mr. Lees has returned for performances with the Los Angeles and Rochester Philharmonics, the Houston, Detroit, Milwaukee, North Carolina, Portland, and Flint Symphonies, and conducted debuts with the Indianapolis, Kansas City, Toledo, and Vermont Symphonies.

Additional engagements have taken him to the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Orchestra de Chambre de Paris, Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, and at the Music in the Mountains Festival & Festival Internacional de Inverno de Campos do Jordão in Brazil.

Only the second American Gustavo Dudamel Conducting Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Mr. Lees made his debut with the orchestra in April 2013 and returned for concerts in February 2015.

With the New York Philharmonic, St. Louis & Atlanta Symphonies, among others, Mr. Lees has served as assistant conductor for the world's leading conductors, including: Gustavo Dudamel, Paavo Järvi, Herbert Blomstedt, Leonard Slatkin, David Robertson, Robert Spano, Marin Alsop, Pablo Heras-Casado, Stéphane Danève, Susanna Mälkki, and Nicholas McGegan.

A recipient of a Career Assistance Grant from the Solti Foundation US, Mr. Lees was also chosen for showcase on the Bruno Walter Memorial Foundation National Conductor Preview, hosted by the League of American Orchestras and Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.

A dedicated advocate for music of our time, Mr. Lees has premiered more than one hundred fifty new works by a diverse range of composers, and collaborated closely with Pulitzer Prize winners John Adams, William Bolcom, John Corigliano, Jennifer Higdon, Joseph Schwantner, Steven Stucky, Caroline Shaw, Roger Reynolds, and Julia Wolfe.

An equally passionate advocate for music education, Mr. Lees has brought inspirational energy to student orchestras across the country, from the Colburn School to the New England Conservatory, and previously served on the faculties of the University of Michigan and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. 

A native of Washington, D.C., Mr. Lees holds bachelors and master's degrees from the University of Michigan, and has studied conducting with Larry Rachleff and Robert Spano, as well as having participated in masterclasses with Lorin Maazel, Michael Tilson Thomas, Gustav Meier, and Jorma Panula.

When not performing, Mr. Lees can be found building Lego sets with his six year old son, reading the stack of books by his nightstand, or training outdoors for his next 10K road race.