Chris Prosser

Violinist

Chris is a violinist-composer living in Wellington. He writes music to perform and record himself and plays solo or in collaboration with others. He holds arts degrees from Canterbury University Christchurch and Middlesex University London. Recently he released a 4CD set of his own violin studies and duos – “Accordatura Violin”. This and other CDs have been broadcast on Concert FM, BBC Radio3 and radio stations in Europe, Canada and Australia with reviews in Cadence NY Magazine, FolkRoots, The Wire. He is a free-lance musician who enjoys teaching and participating in community music making.

Recently he moved back from London where he was based since the 1990s. There he received a British Council award and as well as composing/performing violin music he played with various kinds of bands: improvised music, indie-pop, street busking, theatre. He has now become a regular performer of improvised music in Wellington with bands such as ‘The Doubles’ and ‘Wellington Most Famous Orchestra’ at venues as diverse as Te Marae Te Papa and Happy. Improvisation is his current interest and direction – it will be the basis of his upcoming recording. Other particular interests with the violin are scordatura (different tunings), additive rhythm patterns and jazz. He also intends to develop technique for vocalising while playing violin.