Biography
Christopher Lee Fraley
Pacific composer Christopher Lee Fraley writes music that tells stories—tuneful, accessible, and rooted in the craft of the classical tradition. His catalog includes over thirty choral works, two operettas, string quartets, tone poems, a symphony, and pieces for piano and various chamber ensembles.
Fraley’s compositions have been premiered by the Byrd Ensemble, Cascadian Chorale, Radiance, Kona Choral Society, Master Chorus Eastside, and the Pittsburgh Civic Orchestra. In addition to managing his publishing company, Fraley Music, Chris sings tenor with Kona Choral Society, where he is vice president and substitute director.
40+
Published works
6
Premiere ensembles
3
Albums
30+
Years composing
Choral career
From the chorale to the concert stage.
Chris has focused primarily on choral music since joining Cascadian Chorale (Bellevue, WA) as a tenor in 2008. He served as the chorale’s composer-in-residence for 2011–2012, during which they premiered his first mass, Missa Historiae, along with I Shall Not Care, Wistful Wind, The Plains, and Reminiscence.
His choral works include settings of well-known texts such as Hine ma tov; Break, Break, Break; Wind of the Western Sea (Sweet and Low); A Light Exists in Spring; Flanders Fields; and three settings of the Latin mass. Settings of original texts include Island Home, Reborn by Living Water, and In the Shadow of the Son. Arrangements include Lully Lullay, Of the Father’s love begotten, Now Thank We All Our God, Let Us Be Merry (A Virgin Unspotted), Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and Brightest and Best.
Early works & training
Orchestral roots.
Before turning to choral music, Chris composed extensively for orchestra and chamber ensembles. He learned the art of composition through private study with several composers: Peter (Nagy-Farkas) Wolf (1994–2010), Bern Herbolsheimer (2007), Roupen Shakarian (2014), and John Muehleisen (2018–2019).
His early career included two Young Composer’s Grants from the Chaspen Foundation for the Arts (Redmond, WA)—the first in 1997 for Red Riding Hood, a children’s operetta, and the second for Frog Prince, which premiered in 1998. Notable orchestral and chamber performances followed, including the Pittsburgh Civic Orchestra (Fanfare for Life), the Max Aronoff Chamber Music Series (Piano Trio No. 1 “The Fish Trio”), and a recital titled Paintings of Song.
Beyond composing
Copyist, advisor, singer.
Aside from composing, Chris worked for the estate of composer Alan Hovhaness from 2007 to 2019 as an advisor, copyist, and technologist, and served as private secretary and copyist to choral conductor Abraham Kaplan—Leonard Bernstein’s preferred chorus preparer and longtime choral conducting professor at the University of Washington—from 2017 to 2019.
Chris has created two choral music videos, Brightest and Best and A Light Exists in Spring, both using animation and visuals to depict the story told by the text. He has also dedicated considerable time to researching the science and theory of Just Intonation and its relationship to harmony.
Chris sings tenor in Kona Choral Society, for which he currently serves as Vice President of the Board and occasionally as substitute director. He continues to write for chorus, and is always on the lookout for texts that resonate with him and inspire his creative work.