Christopher has played trumpet for roughly eight years and is on a music scholarship to attend school. Christopher is highly involved in MAX; he is a part of the school’s Jazz 1, Select Band, Jazz Combo, Brass Quintet, Pit Orchestra, and he revived a Select Jazz group as a sophomore to play in the school’s mid-year concert. This year, Christopher was selected to be a member in NYSSMA’s All-State Symphony Orchestra. NYSSMA, the New York State School Music Association, holds a competitive festival for all sophomores and juniors in the state. There, they play a solo work in front of a judge and are graded on their playing. After all adjudication is finished, the judges convene and place the highest-scoring students in performing groups. Christopher received a 100 on his playing exam and, with further recommendation from the judge, was placed in the Orchestra, New York’s highest-level high school group. He is set to attend a three-day festival at the University of Rochester.

Christopher is also highly involved in music outside of school. This past summer, he was invited to tour Italy with a youth orchestra based in Long Island. There, he played five concerts all across the country. He also was awarded a full scholarship to French Woods, a performing arts camp located in Hancock, NY. There, he was able to be featured, playing a trumpet solo under the baton of Tony Award-winning Broadway composer Jason Robert Brown.

Throughout the school year, Christopher is a member of the prestigious New York Youth Symphony. This group has members ranging from ages 12-22 who are from all around the tri-state area. Christopher plays alongside students in Juilliard, Columbia, NYU, and Manhattan School of Music at Carnegie Hall multiple times a year. He was also selected to be a member of the ISO Symphony Orchestra, which is comprised of high school students around the city who also perform in Carnegie Hall. Christopher is making four Carnegie Hall appearances this upcoming school year in November, March, April, and May. This will bring his total Carnegie Hall appearances to 10!

In 2020 and 2021, Christopher was selected to be a part of Carnegie Hall’s NYO2 (National Youth Orchestra 2.) This group is open to 14-17 year-olds from all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Hundreds of thousands of students apply and only 88 are selected. These students serve as national ambassadors and tour Miami Beach. Being that he was selected during two Covid years, both tours were canceled and virtual projects were released after a month-long residency in Purchase College. Christopher was also a finalist in the International Trumpet Guild’s youth division competition in 2021, competing against kids from several different continents. Prior to coming to Xaverian, Christopher was selected all three possible years to be a member of the New York Pop’s Kids on Stage program, where he has played alongside the professional orchestra at Carnegie Hall. In this program, he has played alongside the biggest names of music such as: Alan Menken (the composer of almost every hit Disney movie song ever written), Cindy Lauper, Angela Lansburry, Kristin and Bobby Lopez (The writers of Frozen, Frozen 2, and Coco), and several original Disney voices and Broadway Disney actors.