Christopher McKim, DMA, baritone, currently serves as the Director of Vocal Studies at Colorado Mesa University. He was previously the head of the voice area at the University of Puget Sound, and has been a member of the vocal faculty at Metropolitan State College in Denver.
In Grand Junction, he has performed with the Western Colorado Chorale, High Desert Opera, The Theatre Project, and has music directed at Grand Junction High School.
McKim has performed and trained extensively in music theatre, performing in more than 30 different professional productions of musical theatre and opera. Since musical theatre continues to develop stylistically, McKim considers himself a continuing student of musicals: learning, performing and teaching as new shows are written. He has recently received pedagogical training in contemporary music styles such as jazz, country, rock and pop.
An experienced interpreter of opera and operetta, McKim has performed in France with the Lyrique en Mer festival at Belle-Ile, as well as opera companies in Colorado, Arizona, Kansas and Maine. He has performed operatic stage works ranging from Monteverdi to Mozart as well as many contemporary works including premiers of two American operatic roles: Billy Blythe (Bill Clinton) in the opera Billy Blythe by Bonnie Montgomery and Florentino Ralston in Sara McKinnon by Mark Medoff and Randall Shinn. He is particularly proud to be an active part of Grand Junctions creative community and has created lead roles in two original Operas based on Grand Junction History (One Bike & Eclipse). He also performs extensively in the genre of operetta, and holds a great fondness for the shows by Gilbert & Sullivan – particularly The Mikado, Patience, and The Gondoliers.
McKim finds teaching to be richly rewarding. As a teacher, he works to engage students in a process of self discovery and learning. He holds his students to very high standards in the studio, on the stage and in the classroom, and continually challenges them while offering support. He believes it is his task to find effective ways to communicate concepts that are often complex or intangible to his students. He approaches this challenge with a thorough understanding of the voice as an instrument and combines that with his knowledge of appropriate music styles.
