Christian Hales

When Christian began studying the bass at age 9 he wanted to be different from his other musical siblings by playing jazz. His teacher David Yavornitzky, principal bassist of the Utah Symphony, convinced him to start with some classical fundamentals—years later Christian still hasn’t gotten around to doing much jazz. Through middle and high school he attended various summer camps including Music@Menlo and BUTI. In high school Christian got tired of all the practicing and decided to take a break from lessons. For three years he played occasionally, but his plan was to become a graphic designer or attend Business School. During his freshman year of college at BYU the bass professor, Eric Hansen (Former Principal of Winnipeg Symphony), encouraged him to try bass again and helped him discover some cool music and really exciting opportunities. Christian was able to travel to Russia, China, The Philippines, Austria, Poland, and New York for various music projects and performing tours. Along with some design and tech internships, Christian graduated with a bachelor’s degree in music with university honors and immediately went to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music to start a masters program and then a one-year professional studies program with Scott Pingel (SF Symphony Principal). In his final month at the conservatory Christian won an audition with the SF symphony and looks forward to joining the bass section later this year.