Named Music Director of the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra (FSO) in 2009, Christopher Zimmerman celebrates his 15th season leading the orchestra. Under his leadership, the FSO has received consistent praise from the media. Former Washington Post Chief Classical critic, Anne Midgette, wrote: “the Bernstein was a note-perfect end to a very refreshing evening that spoke well for the programming vision of Zimmerman.” Former Washington Post reporter, Stephen Brookes, wrote: “Zimmerman has been injecting adrenalin into this determined ensemble… (and has) made the Fairfax players a serious force to be reckoned with.”

Christopher Zimmerman graduated from Yale with a B.A. in Music and received his Master’s from the University of Michigan. He also studied with Seiji Ozawa and Gunther Schuller at Tanglewood, and at the Pierre Monteux School in Maine with Charles Bruck. Zimmerman served as an apprentice to Andrew Davis and the Toronto Symphony and in Prague, as assistant conductor to Vaclav Neumann and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.

Zimmerman’s debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was followed by engagements with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. He has since conducted orchestras all over the world–the Prague Symphony, the Slovak Philharmonic, the Turku Philharmonic, the Seoul Philharmonic, the Mexico City Philharmonic, the  Caracas Philharmonic, National Orchestra of Rio de Janeiro, the Shenzhen Symphony, the Xiamen Symphony–to name a few.  In opera, he has worked as the assistant conductor for “Carmen” at the Nimes Festival and as assistant conductor for “Salome” at the Mexico City Opera where he was re-invited to conduct a full production of “Gianni Schicchi” the following season. His U.S. operatic debut conducting  Carlisle Floyd’s  “Susannah” won the National Opera Association’s First prize as did Bright Sheng’s “Song of Majnun”, which he also led. Zimmerman’s operatic repertoire is as diverse as it has proven successful, from Handel’s “Julius Caesar” through Verdi, Puccini, Strauss and Sheng.

Prior to his appointment to the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, Christopher Zimmerman was Music Director of the Symphony of Southeast Texas, the Bangor Symphony Orchestra and the City of London Chamber Orchestra.  His career has also embraced teaching and working with student orchestras and conductors; in 1993 he joined the conducting faculty at the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati where he was Music Director of their concert orchestra, and in 1999 he was appointed as Fuller Professor of Orchestral Studies at the Hartt School as well as Music Director of the Hartt Symphony.  A much sought-after clinician and pedagogue, Mr. Zimmerman continues to teach at workshops and festivals around the world.

Christopher Zimmerman is committed to performing music by living composers and he has premiered over 60 works for orchestra by names such as William Bolcom, Martin Bresnick, Avner Dorman, Bright Sheng, Christopher Rouse, Ellen Taafe Zwilich and Judith Weir.  On July 4, 2012, Mr. Zimmerman gave the world premiere of “Lingua Angelorum” by Czech composer Sylvie Bodorova, a song cycle with the internationally renowned baritone Thomas Hampson and the Prague Symphony Orchestra. 

A champion of contemporary music and commissioning new work, during his leadership with the FSO, Zimmerman has commissioned seven new works and presented 22 premieres. This season, Zimmerman and the FSO will present the U.S. premiere piano concerto “Force Majeure” by composer Elena Kats-Chernin with pianist, Lisa Moore, along with the Regional premiere of “She Dreams of Flying” by composer Quinn Mason, the VA state premiere of Clarice Assad’s concerto for Guitar and Cello “Anahata,” and the commission and East Coast premiere by Jonathan Leshnoff “Concertante for Two Violins and Orchestra.” During the 2023-24 season, Zimmerman conducted the World Premiere Clarinet Concerto by Syrian-American composer Malek Jandali with New York Philharmonic Principal Clarinetist, Anthony McGuill, the Regional premiere of “Dance”by Anna Clyne with cellist Inbal Segev, and the co-commission and Virginia premiere of “Rhapsody in Red, White, and Blue” with pianist Jeffrey Biegel in honor of the 150th Anniversary of Gershwin’s famous “Rhapsody in Blue.”

In 2023, Zimmerman and the FSO presented the U.S. premiere of “Bruromano,” a concerto for guitar, double bass, and string orchestra by Czech composer Sylvie Bodorova featuring renowned guitarist, Jason Vieaux. In 2022, the FSO presents the regional premiere of composer Robert Carl’s "White Heron” and composer Jonathan Leshnoff’s Symphony No.4 “Heichalos.” The FSO brought "Dances of the Yogurt Maker” by Turkish composer, Erberk Eryilmaz to Virginia for the first time in 2019, along with the 2018 Virginia premiere of Philip Glass’ “Piano Concerto No. 3,” with pianist Simone Dinnerstein, who commissioned the work and for whom it was written. In 2017, the Fairfax Symphony in celebration of its 60th season commissioned “Resolutions” by composer Mark Camphouse in honor of the 275th Anniversary of Fairfax County. In 2016, the FSO presented the regional premiere of Martin Bresnick’s “The Way it Goes.” In 2013 premiered “Virtue” by composer Chris Theofanidis for soprano, actor, three voices and orchestra that it co-commissioned with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, and in 2011, the FSO commissioned Concerto of “The Andes” for Guitar, Charango and orchestra by composer Javier Farias.

Zimmerman also established four artistic collaborations while leading the FSO—its annual co-presentation with George Mason University’s Center for the Arts featuring renowned artists including acclaimed soprano Renée Fleming, and pianists Jeremy Denk and Simone Dinnerstein, the annual presentation of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker with the Fairfax Ballet, and a concert and dance in collaboration with Bown-McCauley Dance Company.

Christopher Zimmerman was recognized as the winner of the American Conducting Prize in 2011, an award given for nationwide performances by orchestral conductors, choral conductors, and a host of other categories. Such recognition of his abilities has been born out in appointments to the Music Directorship of the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony (2013-) and Artistic Directorship of the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestras (2014-2017).