Chris Krycho - Topic

I am a composer of contemporary classical music—think somewhere between John Williams and John Tavener—with recent works ranging from small chamber pieces written for friends to a fanfare recorded with the Budapest Scoring Orchestra. (I am also a software engineer, writer, and more.)

I began composing in earnest in 7th grade, when I wrote an orchestral arrangement of Martin Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” for a local Clavinova Festival. Although I continued studying piano, with a widening focus on popular and improvisatory styles for a church worship band, my emphasis over the course of high school shifted increasingly to pure composition.

I continued studying composition in the University of Oklahoma’s School of Music, completing the full course of composition studies under Dr. Marvin Lamb while graduating with a Bachelor’s of Physics.

After graduation, I continued composing here and there, but the busyness of being early in a career in software development, the addition of two delightful daughters, and a graduate degree pushed music to the side throughout much of the 2010’s. In 2020, I jumped back into composing with my “Fanfare for a New Era of American Spaceflight”, written in honor of the SpaceX Crew Dragon Demo launch, and I have not stopped composing since.