Biography
Chris Arrell is an associate professor in the Department of Music and the director of the Holy Cross Laptop Ensemble Federation (H-CLEF), which he founded in 2015. His primary areas of teaching and research include composition, theory, sound synthesis, and computer music.
Praised for its nuance and unconventional beauty by New Music Box, Boston Music Intelligencer, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, among others, his music has led to commissions from the Alte Schmiede, Boston Musica Viva, Music at the Anthology, Spivey Hall, Cornell University, and the Fromm Foundation at Harvard University.
Arrell's honors include a portrait concert at the Alte Schmiede (Vienna), appointment as a composer-in-residence for NEXTET (University of Nevada, Las Vegas), selection as the featured guest composer for the Pellegrini Festival of New Music (Ball State University) and the Aura New Music Ensemble (University of Texas-Houston), and Walking in Altamira, an extensive collaboration with Collide-O-Scope Music supported by the Ditson Foundation of Columbia University. Additional accolades include the Bent Frequency Underscore prize, the Ettelson Composer's Award, and the Ossia Music Prize, recognition from the League of Composers/International Society for Contemporary Music, the Salvatore Martirano Competition, and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, and residencies at the MacDowell Colony and the Atlantic Center for the Arts.
Publishers of Arrell’s music include Ablaze Records, Beauport Classical, Electroshock Records, MSR Classics, Navona, Parma Recordings, SCI, and Trevco Music.