Christopher Rex, Principal Cellist, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

Christopher Rex joined the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as Principal Cello in 1979, the same year in which he became the first cellist ever to win the string prize in the biennial Young Artists Competition of the National Federation of Music Clubs and since then has appeared as recitalist and chamber musician across the nation. He took up the cello at age eight, completing a family string quartet in his hometown of Winter Park, Florida. Following his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music with Orlando Cole and at The Juilliard School with Leonard Rose, he was a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra under director Eugene Ormandy for seven seasons. He has taught at Gettysburg College, the New School of Music in Philadelphia, Georgia State University, and the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina.

In the summer of 1988, he shared Acting Principal duties for the New York Philharmonic's European tour, replacing Lorne Munrow. He is a founding member of the Georgian Chamber Players, whose concerts have included guest performers such as Emanuel Ax, Andras Schiff, Misha Dichter, Yefim Bronfman, Robert McDuffie, Lynn Harrell, Ruth Laredo, Lee Luvisi, and Janos Starker. In 1994, Mr. Rex, together with his brother, Charles Rex, Associate Concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, premiered a new double concerto for violin, cello and orchestra by Stephen Paulus to sold-out audiences at four concerts in Lincoln Center with Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic. The Rex brothers presented a program in Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall in February 2001, as a tribute to their father, Charles Gordon Rex, Sr.  At this recital only music that was composed by their father was performed.  Christopher Rex also performed in Carnegie Hall as sololist with the Manhattan Philharmonic again with his brother Charles in the “Poet and the Muse” by Camille Saint Saens.

Mr. Rex's most recent solo appearances with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra include performances of the Shostakovitch Concerto No. 1, Strauss' Don Quixote, the Victor Herbert Concerto #2, Dvorak Concerto, and the Elgar Cello Concerto. Mr. Rex is Founder and  the General and Artistic Director of the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival. He is Artistic Director of the Madison Chamber Music Festival and on the Board of Directors of Chamber Music America.

Rex is a regular performer at the Highlands Chamber Music Festival and has been Principal Cellist of the orchestras at the  Colorado Music Festival in Boulder, Colorado, and the Grand Tetons Music Festival in Jackson, Wyoming. He has performed as soloist at the Brevard Music Festival and Eastern Music Festival in North Carolina and the Chatauqua Festival in New York. He has been invited to play at the Montreal Chamber Music Festival in May 2007. In March of 2008 he will be the featured soloist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in the Cello Concerto of Samuel Barber. In the Fall of 2007 Rex will become the Cello Chair of the McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia.

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