Michael Christie is an American conductor. He graduated from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music with a bachelor?s degree in trumpet performance. His conducting teachers have included Peter Jaffe, Eiji Oue, and Robert Spano. Christie first came to international attention in 1995 when he received a special prize for "outstanding potential" at the First International Sibelius Conductor?s Competition in Helsinki at age 21. Following the competition, he became an apprentice conductor with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and subsequently worked with Daniel Barenboim, conducting both in Chicago and at the Berlin State Opera. From 1996 to 1998, he was associate conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic. Franz Welser-M�st named Christie assistant conductor at the Zurich Opera for the 1997-98 season. Christie has been music director of the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder since 2000. In October 2011, CMF announced that it has extended Christie's contract for five more years. In December 2004, Christie was appointed the 10th music director of the Phoenix Symphony, with an initial contract of 5 years from 2005 to 2010. 

June 30th, 1974 in Buffalo (Age 49)