Performances, Residencies & Special Projects
Christian Howes
One violin. Many worlds.
Christian Howes creates performances and residencies that move between jazz, orchestral music, American roots, education, and stories of transformation.
Book a signature concert project, bring Christian as a guest soloist, or build a multidimensional residency combining performance, workshops, speaking, screening, and community engagement.
Selected Recognition
American String Teachers Association
DownBeat Critics Poll
Jazz Journalists Association
JazzTimes Critics Poll
Chamber Music America
Ukraine and Montenegro
Mid Atlantic Arts
Grant support for Creative Strings, 2025–26
Performance, education, and conversation—built around your community
Christian’s engagements range from a single concert, workshop, artist talk, or film screening to a multi-day residency combining live performance, student and teacher workshops, discussion, and community participation.
Programs can be adapted for performing arts presenters, universities, schools, orchestras, festivals, conferences, and community organizations.
Ways to Work with Christian
Jazz, blues, gospel, Latin and American roots Chamber Music & Collaborations
String trios, duos and featured artists Orchestra, Big Band & Solo
Guest soloist and live-looped performance Education & Residencies
K–12, universities, teachers and communities Redemption Time
Film, performance and conversation
Christian Howes as Bandleader
Book Christian with his touring musicians or with an excellent rhythm section assembled locally. Concerts can draw from the full recording catalog—jazz, blues, gospel, Latin and global influences, American roots, standards, and original music—or emphasize a theme shaped for the presenter and community.
Selected Repertoire & Project Directions
American Spirit
A concert program drawing together jazz, gospel, blues, Americana, classical music, popular culture, and original compositions to explore the many voices and perspectives that shape American identity.
Developed following Christian’s U.S. State Department work in Ukraine and Montenegro, American Spirit invites audiences to consider what connects us across difference. The Resonance Records album was recognized among the year’s best jazz recordings by the Huffington Post.
“A beautifully eclectic work.”
— DownBeat
Southern Exposure
A vivid concert program inspired by Latin America, Spain, the Caribbean, and the Mediterranean, combining jazz improvisation with tango, bossa nova, Afro-Cuban rhythms, and contemporary composition.
“This is Howes’s show, and he shines throughout.”
— Jeff Tamarkin, JazzTimes
Explore Southern Exposure →
Watch Christian Howes and Richard Galliano live at Jazz at Lincoln Center →
Gospel, Swing & Jazz with Bobby Floyd
A joyful program grounded in a musical friendship and mentorship that began in Columbus in 1996. Christian and pianist-organist Bobby Floyd move naturally through gospel, swing, blues, and jazz, placing connection and feeling at the center of the performance.
Recordings That Show the Range
Out of the Blue explores blues as a language running through jazz, gospel, rock, and American music, with special guest Robben Ford and a band including Bobby Floyd.
“A virtuoso performance, as full of emotion as it is technically dazzling.”
— Ian Patterson, All About Jazz
Heartfelt, featuring pianist Roger Kellaway, highlights Christian’s lyrical side through jazz, Brazilian music, standards, and film repertoire.
“The balance Heartfelt achieves between solo, group interplay and orchestration is quite remarkable.”
— Mark Corroto, All About Jazz
These recordings expand the musical vocabulary available for customized concerts and residencies; they are presented here as evidence of range rather than as fixed touring packages.
Explore videos, recordings, and press at Resonance Records →
Featured Interdisciplinary Project
Redemption Time
A 70-minute multimedia performance film centered on music, incarceration, transformation, and the possibility of redemption. It features Christian Howes and poet Jimmy Santiago Baca, with pianist Lovell Bradford, bassist Shannon Hoover, and Grammy Award-winning multi-instrumentalist Hamilton Hardin, and was directed by David Gonzalez.
The project can anchor a screening, live discussion, speaking engagement, performance, workshop, or broader university and community residency.
Jazz Violin with Orchestra, String Orchestra & Big Band
Christian appears as guest soloist with professional, university, youth, and community orchestras, string orchestras, and big bands. Featured repertoire includes Scott Routenberg’s Concerto for Jazz Violin and Orchestra, Chick Corea’s “Spain,” original works, and customized crossover programming.
A performance of the Routenberg concerto with the Muncie Symphony Orchestra led to an invitation from the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv. Christian subsequently performed the concerto at the historic Lviv Philharmonic with the INSO-Lviv Academic Symphony Orchestra while also leading improvisation workshops as part of an American cultural-diplomacy mission.
Explore solo, orchestra, string-orchestra, and big-band programs →
Explore the concerto, performance video, and program notes →
Read the cultural-diplomacy story →
Chamber Music & Featured Collaborations
Programs for chamber-music societies, festivals, performing-arts series, universities, and intimate listening rooms—built around improvisation, communication, and the expressive range of bowed strings.
Howes / Bhatt / Braun Trio
Christian Howes and Baiju Bhatt, violins, with Stephan Braun, cello. This international trio combines jazz, contemporary chamber music, global influences, original music, and spontaneous improvisation. The ensemble is especially suited to European festivals and chamber-music presenters and is scheduled to appear at the 2026 Creative Strings Festival in Lausanne.
Watch a complete trio performance → · See the Lausanne festival →
U.S. String Trio: Christian Howes, Camille Howes & Karl Henry
An emerging intergenerational string trio drawing on jazz standards, popular music, improvisation, and the natural musical conversation between family and longtime collaborators. The project is being developed for U.S. touring, chamber venues, and community programs.
Family & Intergenerational Programs
Christian also develops programs with his children Camille and Dalton, combining performance, family story, musical development, and audience participation. Formats can be shaped for family series, schools, community concerts, and multigenerational audiences.
Explore family and generational programs →
Watch Christian and Camille perform “Dark Eyes” → · Watch “Sir Duke” →
Additional Performance Formats
Solo: Acoustic & Live-Looped
One violin can become an orchestra. Christian moves from intimate unaccompanied playing to live-looped jazz, blues, bluegrass, classical music, and original work.
Explore solo performance →
Watch the 30-video solo looping playlist →
A Core Booking Practice
Education & Creative Strings Residencies
Christian works with K–12 orchestras, universities, conservatories, professional musicians, and teachers. Engagements can stand alone or connect directly with any concert, chamber, orchestral, family, or Redemption Time program.
Current recognition: Christian Howes is the 2026 recipient of the American String Teachers Association’s Artist Teacher Award. Creative Strings’ 2025–26 educational work is supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
K–12 Programs
Improvisation, composition, contemporary styles, collaborative concerts, classroom curriculum, and inspiring entry points for students at varied levels.
University Residencies
Performance, ensemble coaching, creative musicianship, entrepreneurship, artist talks, interdisciplinary collaboration, and customized multi-day residencies.
Teacher Development
Practical frameworks for teaching harmony, improvisation, groove, alternative styles, creativity, and student-centered music making.
“Howes’ experience proves that the collaboration of music educator and professional performer can create magic for students.”
— National Association for Music Education magazine feature
“My high-school students LOVED it!”
— Shana Hobin Stewart, High School Orchestra Teacher
“My students have never been more engaged … and my job satisfaction has doubled.”
— Austin Scelzo, Middle School Orchestra Teacher
Explore the K–12 and college Creative Strings residency program →
View Christian’s educational background and residency history →
Build a Residency
Combine any signature project or performance format with components tailored to your institution and community:
- Student improvisation, composition, and contemporary-strings workshops
- Orchestra rehearsals and collaborative concerts
- Teacher professional development
- Artist talks, keynote presentations, and moderated conversations
- Redemption Time screenings, panels, and community partnerships
- University collaborations spanning performance, education, humanities, music business, social justice, and music therapy
Selected Press
“There is nobody better than this guy.”
— Les Paul
“As a jazz violinist today, he has no peer.”
— Michael Bailey, All About Jazz
“Not since Jean-Luc Ponty has a violinist ranged from pure classical to fuzz-tone rock to convincing jazz with such authority.”
— Neil Tesser, Chicago Reader
Electronic Press Kit & Presenter Resources
- Approved short and long biographies
- Download high- and low-resolution press photos
- Performance videos
- Press quotes and critical acclaim
- Upcoming events
Additional program descriptions, presenter introductions, technical information, and customized press materials are available upon request.
Booking and Media Inquiries
Bring Christian Howes to your venue, university, school, festival, conference, orchestra, or community.
Send a Booking Inquiry
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Prefer to talk?
Email: chris@christianhowes.com
Call or text: 614-332-8689
Please include your organization, location, proposed dates, audience, and whether you are considering a concert, screening, guest-soloist appearance, or multifaceted residency.