Named Music Director of the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra in 2009, Christopher Zimmerman has received consistent praise from the media for his artistic leadership. The Washington Post chief arts critic, Anne Midgette, wrote: “the Bernstein was a note perfect end to a very refreshing evening that spoke well for the programming vision of Zimmerman.” Washington Post reporter, Stephen Brookes, commented: “Zimmerman has been injecting adrenalin into this determined ensemble…(and has) made the Fairfax players a serious force to be reckoned with.”

In the summer of 2013, Zimmerman accepted two additional appointments:  Music Director of the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony and Principal Conductor of the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestras.  He has also been the Music Director of the Eleazar de Carvalho Festival in Brazil, and, closer to home, a regular guest conductor at the Summer Performing Arts Festival in Wintergreen, Virginia.  He has also been engaged as a guest conductor all over the world, with the Royal Philharmonic, the London Symphony, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Prague Symphony, the Slovak Philharmonic, the Turku Philharmonic, the Seoul Philharmonic, the Mexico City Philharmonic, the Caracas Philharmonic, National Orchestra of Rio de Janeiro to name a few, and, more recently, he has been on two guest tours of orchestras in China.

A recipient of numerous awards, the FSO, under Zimmerman’s direction was honored as the 2013 winner of Washington Area Music Award (WAMMIE) for the best classical orchestra.  In 2011, Zimmerman was selected as the first-place winner in the professional orchestra category of “The American Prize in Conducting”, a new award for nationwide performances for conductors of all genres and categories.  His U.S. operatic conducting debut, Carlisle Floyd’s “Susannah,” won first place in the National Opera Association competition.

In addition to Susannah, Zimmerman’s opera repertoire includes Julius Caesar, Don Giovanni, Carmen, La Traviata, Un Ballo in Maschera, La Gioconda, Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi and Salome as well as Bright Sheng’s Song of Majnun.

A champion of contemporary music and commissioning new work, during his leadership with the FSO, Zimmerman has commissioned three new works and presented nine premieres. In 2023, Zimmerman and the FSO will present the U.S. premiere of “Bruromano,” a concerto for guitar, double bass, and string orchestra by Czech composer Sylvie Bodorova featuring renowned guitarist Jason Vieaux. In 2022, the FSO presents the regional premiere of composer Robert Carl’s "White Heron” and composer Jonathan Leshnoff’s Symphony No.4 “Heichalos.” The FSO brought "Dances of the Yogurt Maker” by Turkish composer Erberk Eryilmaz to Virginia for the first time in 2019, along with the 2018 Virginia premiere of Philip Glass’ “Piano Concerto No. 3,” with pianist Simone Dinnerstein, who commissioned the work and for whom it was written. In 2017, the Fairfax Symphony, in celebration of its 60th season, commissioned “Resolutions” by composer Mark Camphouse in honor of the 275th Anniversary of Fairfax County. In 2016, the FSO presented the regional premiere of Martin Bresnick’s “The Way It Goes.” In 2013 premiered “Virtue” by composer Chris Theofanidis for soprano, actor, three voices and orchestra that it co-commissioned with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, and in 2011, the FSO commissioned Concerto of “The Andes” for Guitar, Charango and orchestra by composer Javier Farias.

 Zimmerman also established three artistic collaborations while leading the FSO, including its annual presentation of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker with the Fairfax Ballet Company, a concert and dance in collaboration with Bown-McCauley Dance Company, and the 2022 co-presentation with the Center for the Arts at George Mason University to present pianist Simone Dinnerstein.

Prior to his appointment with the FSO, Zimmerman served as Music Director of the Symphony of Southeast Texas, the Bangor Symphony, and the City of London Chamber Orchestra. His career has also embraced teaching and working with student orchestras and conductors; in 1993 he joined the conducting faculty at the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, where he was Music Director of their concert orchestra, and in 1999 he was appointed Primrose Fuller Professor of Orchestral Studies at the Hartt School as well as Music Director of the Hartt Symphony.  A much sought-after clinician and pedagogue, Mr. Zimmerman continues to teach at workshops and festivals around the world.

Christopher Zimmerman graduated from Yale with a B.A. in Music, and received his Master’s from the University of Michigan. He also studied with Seiji Ozawa and Gunther Schuller at Tanglewood, and at the Pierre Monteux School in Maine with Charles Bruck. Zimmerman served as an apprentice to Andrew Davis and the Toronto Symphony and in Prague, as assistant conductor to Vaclav Neumann and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.