Chris Walden

Seven-time Grammy nominated German-born composer/arranger/conductor Chris Walden has scored more than 40 feature and TV films, and written arrangements for artists including Christina Aguilera, Faith Hill, Michael Bolton, Aretha Franklin, David Foster, Paul Anka, Barbra Streisand, Diana Krall, Christopher Cross, and orchestras like the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Pops, and many more. He has orchestrated for In 2009 he arranged the National Anthem for Jennifer Hudson's performance at the Super Bowl XLIII (2009). Since 2007 Walden has also been a principal arranger for "American Idol". He has been musical director on many TV shows and series, and has worked on more than 100 CDs. As an arranger and band leader he has worked with jazz artists including Michael Brecker, Peter Erskine, Ernie Watts, Tierney Sutton, Bobby Shew, Pete Christlieb, among others. Chris Walden was born on October 10th, 1966 in Hamburg as the son of a Swiss soprano. Chris got in contact with music through the many musicians who came to his parent's house from very early on. At the age of 3 he started to play the recorder, and at age 5 he knew how to read music even before he learned the alphabet. Then at age 7 he learned to play the piano and the trumpet at age 13, which then became his main instrument. In his high school years Chris discovered jazz and big band music while playing trumpet in local school bands. Very soon he started to write arrangements for those bands. After graduating from high school and 20 months of service, he was chosen out of many applicants to join the newly founded German National Youth Jazz Orchestra with which he toured for five years. The leader Peter Herbolzheimer additionally encouraged him to write arrangements for the band and soon he assisted him with arrangements for various radio and record productions. As assistant to his mentor Herbolzheimer, Walden arranged music for the Oscar nominated film Schtonk (1992). After receiving two master's degrees in music Chris Walden conducted the RIAS Big Band in Berlin and the Frankfurt Radio Big Band, served as musical director for the televised German Movie Award Show for four years and began composing for films and scored about 20 German films and wrote 400 arrangements for big band and symphony orchestra before emigrating to Los Angeles at the age of 29.