A graduate of London’s Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Chris has played Guest Principal Trombone with most of the UK’s leading ensembles and under many or the world’s greatest conductors including Abbado, Haitink, Maazel, first appearing with the London Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Celibidache at the age of 21. Having coached and directed ensembles throughout his career he now conducts in a wide range of styles including Opera, Symphonic, Contemporary and Chamber and was awarded an MMus in Conducting from the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester where he studied with Sir Mark Elder, Mark Shanahan, Gianandrea Noseda, Martyn Brabbins, Baldur Brönnimann and Clark Rundell.

Conducting engagements have included projects with the Bochumer Symphoniker, Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal, Duisburg Philharmoniker, Orchestra of Opera North, HH University Symphony Orchester Düsseldorf, Folkwang Symphony Essen, Lancashire Youth Symphony Orchestra, Helix Ensemble, Trinity Laban Conservatoire Wind Orchestra and Brass Ensemble and the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Pops Orchestra. As former Music Director of the Slaithwaite Philharmonic Orchestra, he has conducted a full range of symphonic repertoire and has also directed world premieres by Gary Carpenter, Eric Crees, Gavin Higgins and Alec Roth together with compositions and arrangements of his own.

Other conducting projects have taken him to the Norwegian Music Academy Oslo, the Royal Academy of Music Aarhus, Denmark, Guildhall School of Music & Drama and Trinity Laban Conservatoire London. Chris has also directed Brass Ensembles throughout Germany including Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, SO Wuppertal, Duisburg Philharmoniker and Wind Orchestras such as the Junge Bläserphilharmonie NRW. Passionate about brass bands he has conducted world renowned Black Dyke Band, Brighouse & Rastrick Band, Grimethorpe Colliery Band and Yorkshire Imperial Band with whom he recorded for Radio and CD and won the First Section National Brass Band Championship.

Professor of Trombone and Brass Ensemble at the Folkwang University of Arts, Essen, Germany and Visiting Tutor at London's Guildhall School of Music & Drama, he has also served as Head of Brass at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and Senior Tutor in Brass and International Visiting Tutor at Manchester’s Royal Northern College of Music. He has worked regularly as Low Brass Professor with the European Union Youth Orchestra, Schleswig Holstein Festival Orchestra, Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and continues to give recitals and masterclasses throughout the world, including the Joseph Alessi Summer Seminar, Juilliard, Eastman and conservatoires in Boston, Texas, St Petersburg, Porto, Oslo, Aarhus, Riga, Cordoba, Bern, Lausanne, Freiburg, Basel, Ankara and Karlsruhe.

An experienced Juror, he has officiated at International Solo Competitions in Moscow, Budapest, Alsace and Detmold and as adjudicator at the Norwegian, Belgian and British National Brass Band Championships. He has also acts as outside assessor at many UK and European Conservatoires and Universities. A former Chairman of the International Trombone Association and President of the British Trombone Society, Chris is a regular contributor to many International Brass Journals.

Still active as a professional trombonist, he has appeared as Guest Principal with varied ensembles including Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Musikfabrik, Philharmonia, Scottish Chamber and is a regular member of Superbrass and the Symphonic Brass of London. In 2003 he represented the UK in the World Orchestra for Peace under Valery Gergiev in Russia and has also appeared as soloist with the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, Durham Sinfonia, Collegium Musicum Velbert and the Orchestra of Opera North in Elgar Howarth’s Trombone Concerto under the composer on the occasion of his 70th birthday. He has two recorded albums entitled Houlding his own and Houlding it together and a current YouTube Channel.