Chris Pratorius Gómez is a composer and music educator based in Santa Cruz, California. He has written operas, a harp concerto, two orchestral works and many pieces for solo voice, choir, chamber ensembles and electronic media that have been performed in San Francisco, Istanbul, New York, Guatemala and other spots around the world.
2022 saw the UC Santa Cruz revival of My Head is Full of Colors, a children’s opera originally written for Opera Parallèle while Chris was composer-in-residence under the guidance of Nicole Paiement. This residency saw him write a trio of children's operas for their Hands-on-Opera educational program from 2015-2017. May 2019 saw the revival of another of those operas, Xochitl and the Flowers, presented as a collaboration between Opera Parallèle and the San Francisco Community Music Center.
Another residency, during Quinteto Latino’s first Seminario Institute in 2018, resulted in a triple wind quintet titled Cumbia del Quinceañero. Other notable commissions include Claroscuro en Flor, a 25 minute concerto for harp and chamber orchestra commissioned by the American Harp Society and San José Chamber Orchestra, which saw its premiere in 2013 under the baton of Barbara Day Turner. The guitar sonata Ondas do Mar de Vigo can be found on Mesut Özgen's CD Troubadour, and the chamber concerto Untogether, not Apart, was premiered by New Music Works in 2014. Contraponientes, a choral song-cycle based on poetry by Federico García Lorca, was commissioned by Ariose Singers in 2012.
Future projects include the premiere of Chris’ first dramatic opera, Dreams Americanos, a collaboration with librettist Alan Olejniczak. It’s a modern day Spanish/English bilingual retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac, set in a California restaurant. The premiere is scheduled for 2023 by Houston company I Colori Dell’Opera.
Chris teaches theory, history, composition and piano at Cal State Monterey Bay and UC Santa Cruz, teaches music at The Studio, School of Classical Ballet’s summer intensive program, and maintains a private composition studio.
Short Version:
Chris Pratorius Gómez is a composer and music educator based in Santa Cruz, California. He has written operas, a harp concerto, two orchestral works and many pieces for solo voice, choir, chamber ensembles and electronic media.
2022 saw the UC Santa Cruz revival of My Head is Full of Colors, a children’s opera originally written for Opera Parallèle while Chris was composer-in-residence. Notable past projects include Claroscuro en Flor, a 25 minute concerto for harp and chamber orchestra commissioned by the American Harp Society and San José Chamber Orchestra, which saw its premiere in 2013 under the baton of Barbara Day Turner, and the guitar sonata Ondas do Mar de Vigo, which can be found on Mesut Özgen's CD Troubadour.
Future projects include the premiere of Chris’ first dramatic opera, Dreams Americanos, a collaboration with librettist Alan Olejniczak. It’s a modern day Spanish/English bilingual retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac, set in a California restaurant. The premiere is scheduled for 2023 by Houston company I Colori Dell’Opera.
Chris teaches theory, history, composition and piano at Cal State Monterey Bay and UC Santa Cruz, teaches music at The Studio, School of Classical Ballet’s summer intensive program, and maintains a private composition studio.