A nice guy who writes music, brews beer, teaches music theory and composition when he can, plays trombone, and enjoys good music of all stripes.

Christopher Gable was raised in southern California, but was secretly born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He graduated with honors from the University of California, Santa Barbara, studying composition with Peter Racine Fricker, Emma Lou Diemer, and William Kraft. He continued his studies at the University of Minnesota, earning a PhD in 2000. His principal teachers there were Judith Lang Zaimont, Stephen Paulus and Dominick Argento.

Several members of the Midwest arts community have commissioned him, including the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis, St. John's Lutheran Church (Madison, WI), Lake Harriet United Methodist Church, Janus Percussion Duo, the Harding High School Bands, and the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. Nationwide performers of his music include North Carolina soprano Nancy King, the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, One Voice Mixed Chorus, Civic Orchestra of Minneapolis, the St. Paul Civic Symphony, the UC Riverside Chamber Singers, and the Minnesota Philharmonic. He frequently collaborates with playwrights and theater directors, providing original music and sound design.

In 1998 he won the University of Minnesota Orchestral Composition competition, and received an honorable mention in the ASCAP Grants to Young Composers. Mr. Gable received first prize in the Craig and Janet Swan University of Minnesota Sesquicentennial Commissioning Project for his choral work Song of the Worms. He was nominated for a 2001 Minnesota Music Award in the ?Composer of the Year? category. His music is published by Dorn Publications, Inc. and Graphite Publishing (www.graphitepublishing.com). Mr. Gable has taught at the University of Minnesota and St. Olaf College and is currently Visiting Assistant Professor at Macalester College.

Thy Name Is Love, commissioned by Lake Harriet United Methodist Church (Minneapolis); Teshuvah for viola & organ, commissioned by Carol & Cathy Rodland.