Christopher Allen grew up in a musical family in St. Louis, Missouri and had studied a variety of instruments before discovering his true love of the double bass at the age of 12. During his high school years he served as principal bassist with the celebrated St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra, under the direction of Leonard Slatkin, Gerhardt Zimmermann, and Catherine Comet. During college he was winner of the 1983 St. Louis Symphony Scholarship Competition, and received his Bachelor of Music degree from Webster University in 1984. He has held positions, many as principle bassist, in a number of cities around the country, including Memphis, TN; Sioux City, IA; Sioux Falls, SD; Lyric Mountain, PA; Huntsville, AL; Tuscaloosa, AL; Tupelo, MS; St. Louis, MO; and the Charleston Symphony’s 1994 Midwest tour of Porgy and Bess. He has also been featured as a guest soloist in St. Louis with the University City Symphony, the Gateway Festival Orchestra, and the Florissant Valley Symphony Orchestra. Most recently, he has appeared as featured soloist with the Marshall Symphony Orchestra and the Shreveport Summer Music Festival.
Christopher moved to Shreveport, Louisiana in 1998 in order to take a full-time position with the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra. Since then he has performed with the Marshall Symphony, the Longview Symphony, the Texarkana Symphony, the South Arkansas Symphony, the Shreveport Summer Music Festival Orchestra, and the Baroque Artists of Shreveport. He also served as conductor of the Ark-La-Tex Youth Symphony for ten years, and led a group of double bass students called the “Bass Cats.” He is an adjunct music faculty member at Centenary College and has worked as a luthier at the Cadenza Violin Shop.
In addition to classical music Christopher has a strong love of jazz improvisation and in writing his own music and is the founder of the Summer Jazz Camp of the Shreveport Summer Music Festival. He can be heard around the region performing with a variety of different groups and can be heard regularly at various local venues: on Wednesday and Thursday evenings at 2Johns Steak and Seafood in Bossier City, on Sunday evenings at Chianti Italian Restaurant in Shreveport and on Sunday mornings he plays Electric Bass and Double Bass in the Contemporary Service at Christ United Methodist Church of Shreveport.