Christopher Powell is the Director of Sacred Music and Organist at the National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe at Marytown in Libertyville, IL, and the Organist of North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe, IL. From 2014 to 2021, Christopher served as Music Director and Organist at Christ Church Cathedral in Mobile, AL, and from 2009 to 2014, he was Director of Music Ministries at St. Paul Catholic Church in Pensacola, Florida, where he oversaw the restoration and installation of the last surviving pipe organ (1868) by Moritz Baumgarten, Jr. Christopher served as the Anthony and Alma Fisher Music Director at Springhill Avenue Temple in Mobile, AL from 2018 until 2022. 

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Christopher studied organ performance at The Juilliard School with Grammy Award-winning organist, Paul Jacobs, and at the University of West Florida with Lynne Lauderdale. He also participated in masterclasses and lessons with Alan Morrison, Ken Cowan, Wilma Jensen, Cameron Carpenter, and Stephen Roberts. Also a composer, Christopher holds a diploma with honors in harmony from the European American Musical Alliance’s Nadia Boulanger Summer Institute in Paris, where he was a student of David Conte. Christopher is also the recipient of silver and bronze medals in composition from the Global Music Awards competition. His work ranges from opera and chamber music to functional liturgical music. In 2023, he premiered, Immaculata, an opera in one act about the death of St. Maximilian Kolbe in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

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As a collaborative pianist, Christopher has worked with singers and instrumentalists in rehearsal and recital and served on faculty at Oakwood University in Huntsville, AL. His experience also includes serving as répétiteur for professional and university productions, and working as a staff pianist for the University of Mobile and Mobile Opera in Mobile, AL, as well as répétiteur for Opera Huntsville in Huntsville, AL. Christopher has also served as a staff pianist for the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS).

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