A native of Michigan, CHRISTOPHER ATZINGER enjoys an expanding career and reputation for excellence throughout the United States, Canada, Austria, England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Christopher Atzinger is a medalist of the Cincinnati, New Orleans, San Antonio, Shreveport and Seattle international piano competitions. He was also a winner of the National Federation of Music Clubs Artist Competition and the Simone Belsky Piano Competition, as well as the Premio Città di Ispica prize at the IBLA Grand Prize Competition in Italy. Additionally, he is the recipient of grants and fellowships from the Theodore Presser Foundation, Foundation La Gesse, American Composers Forum and Joyce Dutka Arts Foundation. As a collaborative artist, he also won First Prize at the Sydney Wright Memorial Accompaniment Competition.

As guest soloist, Christopher Atzinger has appeared with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, North Carolina’s Brevard Repertory Orchestra and the symphony orchestras of Jackson (MI), Shreveport and St. Olaf, under the batons of Klauspeter Seibel, Steven Smith, Stephen Osmond, Dennis Simons and Steven Amundson, while recital performances have been heard at New York City’s Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York University and St. Paul’s Chapel, Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Series and The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. Festival appearances include the Banff International Keyboard Festival, Brevard Music Festival, Bridge Chamber Music Festival and the Chautauqua Institution.

Christopher Atzinger’s live performances have aired on radio stations WFMT-Chicago, WJR-Detroit, WXEL-South Florida, KPAC-San Antonio and WGTE-Toledo, while his artistry has also been heard on WGBH-Boston, KING-Seattle and Minnesota and Wisconsin Public Radio, as well as on television stations in Chicago and Cincinnati.

On CD, Christopher Atzinger has two albums released on MSR Classics - a debut solo recording of Bach, Beethoven, Barber and Fritze, followed by an all-Brahms album. He has also recorded music of Amy Beach for Centaur, and, in the fall of 2010, he records works of Judith Lang Zaimont for Naxos.

Christopher Atzinger holds degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and University of Michigan, and earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University. Among his principal teachers he counts Julian Martin, Robert McDonald, Anton Nel, David Renner and Carolyn Lipp. Additional keyboard studies were undertaken with Timothy Lovelace, Edward Parmentier and Penelope Crawford. A dedicated teacher and coach, himself, Dr. Atzinger served on the faculty of Pennsylvania’s Dickinson College, prior to his current appointment at St. Olaf College in Minnesota. He has also lectured at The Juilliard School and Berklee College of Music and conducted masterclasses throughout the United States.

BARBER                                
Concerto, Op. 38
BEETHOVEN            
Concerto #2 in B-flat, Op. 19
Concerto #4 in G, Op. 58
Concerto #5 in E-flat, Op. 73 ("Emperor")
GRIEG                        
Concerto in a, Op. 16
LISZT                                     
Concerto #1 in E-flat
MacDOWELL            
Concerto #2 in d, Op. 23
MENDELSSOHN                  
Concerto #1 in g, Op. 25
MOZART                               
Concerto #9 in E-flat, K. 271
Concerto #10 in E-flat for 2 Pianos, K. 365
Concerto #19 in F, K. 459
RACHMANINOFF               
Concerto #2 in c, Op. 18
SAINT-SAËNS                      
Africa, Op. 89

“Atzinger is blessed with abundant energy, powerful fingers, a big sound and natural musicality. He makes the best possible case for Gregory Fritze’s well made 1989 Sonata, moulding the jagged, proclamatory unison motifs and full-throated chords in contrary motion with immense authority, taking great care with the slow movement’s inside-the-piano strumming and plucking. Atzinger more than holds his own against the Barber Sonata’s finest recorded practitioners (Horowitz, Cliburn, Browning and Wild) and benefits from MSR’s warm, roomy and most attractive engineering.”
GRAMOPHONE

"Atzinger proves himself to be a master of the fugue in his debut recital. Beginning with Bach, the original and supreme master of the fugue, then progressing through late Beethoven to arrive at the brilliant final movement of the Barber sonata, we are treated to a great overview of this form. There are no weak movements, only wonderful music-making. Christopher Atzinger is surely a pianist to keep a watch for."
AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE
 
"The Barber Sonata seems to be an Atzinger calling-card, with its high-flown, percussive lyricism. Atzinger bestows upon the opening Allegro energico the same taut, hard-edged patina we know from the Horowitz and Browning versions. The second movement Scherzo might be Barber’s equivalent of a Liszt etude, according to Atzinger’s playful fingers. The Adagio brings out Barber’s concession to ‘modernism’ and Schoenberg, but it retains a bluesy, American character. The fugal last movement has Atzinger in molten form, providing ardent, scintillating evidence of his technical and sympathetic commitment to this music."
AUDIOPHILE AUDITION

"[Schubert’s Sonata in B-flat major] is beloved less for its technical arrangement than for the festive, gently hymn-like feeling it projects. This was brought across masterfully by Christopher Atzinger with an aesthetically rich performance. He unlocked the thematic richness of the first movement, gave the andante sostenuto an introverted, song-like treatment, and lent ‘delicacy’ to the scherzo. The rondo of the final movement was charged, stirring."
SCHWARZWÄLDER-BOTE (Germany)
 
"Much thought went into this program, but thought is not enough. He put himself in the place of the listener so it would make sense to us as sounds and form a satisfying whole instead of just a collection of pieces. Such intelligent programming and playing are not very common."
AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE