CRIS
FRISCO
CONDUCTOR - COACH - PIANIST
Pianist and conductor, Cris Frisco
is a collaborative musician equally at home in the
worlds of both classical and popular music.
CONNECT
This season, he conducts Glory Denied at Opera Birmingham; music directs A Christmas Carol at the McCarter Theater, Sweeney Todd at Oregon Cabaret Theater, and a festival of short American Operas at Opera Fayetteville. He also makes his debut at New York’s iconic 54Below with tenor, Aaron Blake and partners singers in recital in New York, Santa Fe, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
Currently in development, he is the music director for Anatomiae Occultii’s modern dance production of Sweeney Todd. In past seasons, he has been a musical director and pianist for productions at the Walnut Street Theater, Opera Birmingham, The Princeton Festival, The Theatre Outlet, Muhlenberg Summer Theater, 1812 Productions, Passage Theater, Downtown Players, and the Bucks County and Pocono Playhouses.
A committed educator for the next generation of artists, he has served on the faculties of Westminster Choir College, Rutgers University, the Castleton Artist Training Seminar, The New School for Drama’s Summer Immersion Experience, the Westminster CoOPERAtive, the Opera Theater and Music Festival of Lucca, and Wichita State’s summer study program in Florence. He is also a member of the coaching and accompanying staff at the New School for Drama and Mannes College of Music. A sought-afterpianist for rehearsals and classes, Cris has accompanied rehearsals for Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Nathalie Stutzmann, Steven White, and Cristian Macelaru; and collaborated in masterclasses with artists including Liz Callaway, Denis O’Hare, Judy Kuhn, Bernard Telsey, Jason Butler Harner, Jeff Blumenkrantz, Kait Kerrigan and Brian Lowdermilk, Claudia Catania, William Burden, and Suzanne Farrell.
He is the founder and Artistic Director of The New Voice Project and Music Director for Opera Fayetteville and Opera Sonoma.