Chris Wills

Christopher J. Wills has performed and recorded for film and television productions including Columbia Pictures’ Spider-Man 2, toured in concert with singer and actress Lorna Luft (daughter of Judy Garland) and Jim Curry with the Pacific Symphony, Houston Symphony, Cincinnati Pops and other orchestras at major venues such as Colorado’s Red Rocks and Irvine’s Verizon Wireless Amphitheater. Wills frequently performs for Broadway musicals and revues at venues such as Carpenter Center. He recorded in sessions with Dale Kristien from Los Angeles’ Phantom of the Opera and Jordan Bennett from Les Misérables.

Wills performed in concert for a PBS Soundstage broadcast: the star-studded Colorado Music Hall of Fame featuring Garth Brooks and Amy Grant at Fiddler’s Green Amphitheater that attracted 18,000 concertgoers. Wills has performed with Michael Martin Murphey, Joni Eareckson-Tada, James Burton, Buddy Greene, Lillie Knauls, Ingrid Chun, Justo Almario, Marsha Skidmore and American Idol’s Carrie Jo Hubrich.

Wills served as composer-in-residence with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic at SUNY. He won Hollywood and national composition awards including the Kenneth Davenport National Competition for Orchestral Works which featured world premiere performances at Bardavon Opera House, and Irwin Kostal Memorial Award for Composition presented by John Williams at the Beverly Hilton. Wills composed A Centennial Tribute to celebrate the founding of Biola University. He worked with Invisible Children’s Jason Russell (KONY 2012 viral video), scoring, conducting and recording his USC masters thesis film entitled Fly at the Steven Spielberg Scoring Stage and screened at Norris Cinema Theatre. He wrote theme music for HCJB World Radio hosted by Eric Skattebo.

Wills has been commissioned by orchestras including the Boston Pops, Houston, Dallas and Atlanta symphonies to arrange for programs such as A Very Merry Pops featuring Broadway stars Ashley Brown and Montego Glover, The Sounds of Simon and Garfunkel concerts currently touring around the country, and Tapestry: the Carole King Songbook conducted by Michael Krajewski, featuring Tony-nominated Liz Callaway. Wills also arranged for Great Voices Sing John Denver with Placido Domingo.

Wills was contracted as arranger for Lillenas Publishing for which "He Sends the Snow" was selected as “Editor’s Choice” at J.W. Pepper, recorded in Nashville. He arranged for Space Oddity: Tribute to David Bowie by David Brighton, and for an album project with oboist Tom Boyd to be recorded at Capitol Records, an orchestral video game music series entitled Game On! featuring cellist sensation Tina Guo, and is working with composer Lee Holdridge.