Pronounshe, him, his, his, himself

Department/College/UnitArts Division

TitleContinuing Lecturer

AffiliationFaculty

Web SitePersonal

Primary Office LocationMusic Center
126

Office HoursPlease Contact for Current Office Times

Mail StopMusic Center

Biography, Education and Training

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, Houstong and other spots around the world.

2024 saw the revival of Xochitl and the Flowers, presented by Boulder Opera as part of their educational programs. This opera was originally written for Opera Parallèle while Chris was composer-in-residence. 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 3nd run of Xochitl and the Flowers, presented as a collaboration between Opera Parallèle and the San Francisco Community Music Center, while in 2022 My Head is Full of Colors was reprised by UC Santa Cruz opera.

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 and a commission from Santa Cruz Ballet Theater for the ballet Being of One’s Hour premiered in Montreal in 2012.

Currently Chris is working on the premiere of Noir, a passacaglia for Viola and Piano, a setting of “The Window Overlooking the Harbour” by Laurence Hope, and the continued search for an opera company to premiere Dreams Americanos, a Spanish/English bilingual one-act opera which traces the intertwined lives and loves of a group of friends who work at a small-town pub. 

Chris teaches theory, history, composition and piano at Cal State Monterey Bay and UC Santa Cruz and maintains a private composition studio. 

For more information and audio visit www.pratorius.com