Chris Carson (born August 21, 1985) is an American pianist and composer native to San Antonio, Texas. Growing up in Houston, Texas, he attended High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and studied with Timothy Hester, a Juilliard graduate. Other teachers have included Abbey Simon, Ludmilla Lifson, and Victor Rosenbaum. Mr. Carson has been a very successful competitor, capturing many awards and top ratings in competitions throughout his career. He recently was the inaugural winner of the Pacifica Quartet Competition, and, in 2009, performed the Brahms piano quintet with the Grammy-award winning group. He has received first prize in numerous concerto competitions, and has appeared as a soloist with three orchestras over the past few years, most recently with Orchesterakademie in Germany in 2009, performing a repertoire of Beethoven, Liszt, Shostakovich, and Mendelssohn. Mr. Carson's performances have taken him to New York, Dallas, Chicago, Boston, Houston, Montreal and overseas to venues in Italy, France, and Germany. An active composer, Carson premiered his Fantasy for Piano in Italy in 2006 and is very involved in composing both sacred and secular music. Mr. Carson is also an active teacher in the Boston area, coaching both pianists and vocalists. He currently resides in Boston, where he attended Longy School of Music for his Master's degree. He is now a music director, teacher, and freelancer, in addition to being the choral accompanist for the Belmont Public Schools, in Belmont, Massachusetts.