Christopher Blake was born in Christchurch in 1949. He studied engineering and music at the University of Canterbury and composition at the University of Southampton School of Music. His compositions encompass a wide variety of music.

Major works include Till Human Voices Wake Us for orchestra and tenor soloist; a piano concerto, The Coming of Tane Mahuta; Clairmont Triptych for piano and wind quintet; Bitter Calm, an opera in 2 Acts, premiered at the 1994 New Zealand International Festival of the Arts; Symphony – The Islands; and, a violin concerto Concerto Aoraki premiered in 2006. A CD of his large work for string orchestra Angel at Ahipara recorded by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra on the Atoll label won the Tui Award for Best Classical Album in 2012.

His Symphony – Voices was premiered by the NZSO in its 2016 season. Christopher Blake has been the Chief Executive of a number of performing arts organisations and government departments in New Zealand. He has been Chief Executive of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra since 2012.

Works for string orchestra based on four images from A Journey (1994) by Robin Morrison, a photograp...

Virtuoso wind group Zephyr perform music for wind quintet, from the 1950s to today....

A personal symphonic representation by Christopher Blake of his homeland's physical and spiritual di...

A dramatic symphonic journey through T. S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land”, recorded live....

11 specially commissioned fanfares for the 21st Century...

Definitive performances by pianist John Luxton of Blake's significant solo piano works....