Timothy Christie
Affiliate Artist, Violin
Violinist and violist Timothy Christie enjoys a multifaceted career as performer, teacher, public speaker and recording artist. He is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival (WWCMF), a nonprofit organization in southeastern Washington presenting more than 40 public chamber music events annually. He serves on the faculty of the Community Music Department at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA, and is a member of IRIS Orchestra in Memphis, TN.
In demand as a recitalist and chamber musician, Christie regularly collaborates with some of the most exciting artists and ensembles in the industry, including Third Coast Percussion, Spektral Quartet, PRISM Quartet, PROJECT Trio, Sybarite5, Turtle Island Quartet, the Harlem Quartet, and The Westerlies. The solo violist of new music ensemble, Brave New Works, since the group’s inception in 1997, Christie can be heard on recordings of William Bolcom’s Piano Quintet and William Albright’s Clarinet Quintet on AMP Records.
Christie earned dual undergraduate degrees in Music and English Literature at the University of Michigan, and a Master of Music degree, also from U of M. His principal teachers include Andrew Jennings and Paul Kantor (violin), and Yizhak Schotten (viola). He agrees with composer, Béla Bartók, who said, “competitions are for horses.” Therefore, Christie never entered, won or lost a musical competition.
Christie occasionally dips a toe in the for-profit wing of the music business, having recorded countless film, television video game scores over the years. He has also performed with such disparate luminaries as Queensrÿche, Belle and Sebastian and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Away from music, Christie sometimes hits the ball straight. If you are his friend, you call his slice a “fade.” There’s no accounting for the occasional snap hook… It just happens.