Chris Opperman


Chris Opperman is an composer who has recently emerged into the mainstream. Opperman is known mostly for his work orchestrating the music of guitar heroes Steve Vai and Mike Keneally for their respective performances with Holland's Metropole Orkest. Opperman also performed on Steve Vai's first round of orchestral concerts and the song "Lotus Feet" was nominated for the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Also, the song The Attitude Song from Vai's Sound Theories Vol. I & II album was nominated for the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
However, Opperman has several albums of his own music which is essentially a cross between 1990s alternative rock and his favorite 20th-century composers. His main instrument is the piano. However, he has also been known to play the trumpet and the guitar on occasion, and will rarely sing.
Opperman lived in Los Angeles, California, from 2000 to 2008, when he moved back to New Jersey, where he earned a master's degree in music theory/composition from Montclair State University in May 2010. Opperman now works as an adjunct professor at Montclair State University and the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, where he is earning his Ph.D. in music composition.

Discography

Solo albums

  2. Klavierstucke
  3. Concepts of Non-linear Time
  4. Beyond the Foggy Highway
  5. The Lionheart
  6. Aphrodite Nights - Single
  7. Studio House - EP

    With Steve Vai

  9. Sound Theories Vol. I & II
  10. Playlist: The Very Best of Steve Vai
  11. Naked Tracks, Vol. 5
  12. Naked Tracks, Vol. 6

    With Mike Keneally

  13. Dancing
  14. Dancing With Myself
  15. The Universe Will Provide
  16. Parallel Universe
  17. Guitar Therapy Live
  18. Wine and Pickles

    Album Reviews