Christopher Ramaekers is Director of Orchestral Activities at the University of Texas at El Paso and is Music Director of Symphony847 and Access Contemporary Music in Chicago. He spent twelve years at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater; has been Music Director of the Lake Forest Civic Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Vincent’s and the Hyde Park Youth Symphony; Principal Conductor of the Middleton Community Orchestra; Assistant Conductor of the Quad-City Symphony; Associate Conductor of the Chicago Composers Orchestra; and Principal Conductor of the Ravenswood Community Orchestra. Ramaekers spent nine summers conducting at Camp Encore/Coda in Maine and four summers as music director of the Savoyards Gilbert and Sullivan Company in Madison, WI. He has appeared with the Kenosha, Kalamazoo, Beloit-Janesville, and Skokie Valley Symphonies, Salt Creek Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Dal Niente, and the Chicago Opera Vanguard. Ramaekers can be heard on recordings with Symphony847, Spektral Quartet, and the Chicago Composers Orchestra, as well as with organizations such as Rémy-Martin, and Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.

 

Dr. Ramaekers has held fellowships with the Allentown Symphony Orchestra and the Peninsula Music Festival. He was winner of the 2011 American Prize and holds degrees from Western Michigan University and Northwestern University.