Award winning composer Christopher Tyler Nickel is unique in today’s musical landscape, having made a name for himself as a successful writer of both concert music as well as film and television music. The Province Newspaper called Christopher’s music “engaging and compelling...music that deserves a wide audience!” and Screensounds in the UK wrote, “to say that this is beautiful music would be an understatement”. A graduate of the University of British Columbia School of Music with a degree in composition, Christopher studied with renowned Canadian composer Stephen Chatman. Upon graduation, he continued his studies in both New York and Los Angeles.

Christopher is the author of numerous concert works, which have been performed by ensembles in Canada, the United States, and Europe. In 2002, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic performed his Fanfare for Freedom for an audience of 40,000. Another highlight was the Vancouver Symphony’s performance of the same work for an audience of 9,000 at Deer Lake Park in Burnaby. Other ensembles having performed Christopher’s works include the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Champagne-Urbana Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, College Light Opera Orchestra, Vancouver Youth Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Fraser Valley Symphony, North Shore Sinfonia, Pacific Symphonic Wind Ensemble, West Coast Symphony, as well as many other university, youth and semi-professional and professional orchestras and concert bands.

Christopher has composed music for hundreds of hours of film and television for clients that include the Sci-Fi Channel, Alliance Atlantis Television, YTV, Lifetime, NBC, the National Film Board, Teletoon, Cinetel, HGTV, Telefilm Canada, Animal Planet, Vision TV, TLC, the Discovery Channel, and the History Channel. Recent scores include the series Highway thru Hell, which premiered in 2012 as the highest rated show on the Discovery networks ever; Transparency starring Lou Diamond Phillips and Estella Warren; and The Christmas Consultant starring David Hasselhoff and Caroline Rhea. His awards include among others the 2004 Gold Metal for Best Action Score at the Park City Film Music Festival, two 2009 JPF awards for his album Horizons, and four Leo Award nominations for best original score feature length drama.

In the winter of 2006, Christopher traveled to the Czech Republic to record his first concert album Horizons with the acclaimed City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus. Christopher’s second album entitled Rain, was released in 2009 and features soprano Catherine Redding, English horn soloist Beth Orson, as well as large orchestra and choir.