Christopher Schroeder

Boston-based musician, educator, and arts advocate, Christopher Schroeder is a catalyst for social change through music and arts education. With over a decade of arts leadership and teaching experience, he has successfully established programs and influenced music ecosystems within the Boston community and throughout the United States. Most recently, he was recognized as a finalist for the 2022 Excellence Award in Leadership award for the Massachusetts Non-Profit Network, Boston Future Leader by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, and a quarter-finalist for the 2019 Grammy Music Educator Award.

Schroeder currently serves as the Executive Director of the Boston Music Project, Adjunct Faculty at Emerson College, Visiting Faculty at Longy School of Music of Bard College, and is a guest conductor and clinician with Conn Selmer, Inc. Under his leadership, Schroeder led the organization through transformative growth including amidst a global pandemic, penning its first three-year strategic plan, leading an organizational rebrand, expanding the scale of the program from 1 site serving 150 youth, to 14 sites serving 900 youth, and establishing fiscal health - quadrupling its operating budget from a -$53K deficit to $1.1 million in three years.

As an experienced conductor and trumpeter, Schroeder connects and inspires musicians of all ages to achieve their highest level of musicianship, while instilling character traits that transcend rehearsal and performance spaces. As a nationally-recognized speaker and consultant, he works together with arts leaders and educators on organizational strategy, program development/ implementation, interdisciplinary curriculum design, and community engagement.

Prior to this work, he was an Arts Coordinator with Boston Public Schools, the Director of Community Engagement & Resident Artist for Conservatory Lab Charter School since the inception of its El Sistema music program in 2010; Music Director of the Cape Youth Orchestra with the Cape Symphony & Conservatory; Program Manager and Faculty for Longy School of Music of Bard College’s El Sistema Side-by-Side Program; and National Teaching Faculty with the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s YOLA National Youth Orchestra.