Chris Arrell is a composer and associate professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. His compositions, praised for their unconventional beauty by New Music Box, The Boston Music Intelligencer, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, among others, have received commissions from organizations such as the Alte Schmiede (Austria), Boston Musica Viva, MATA (New York), and the Fromm Foundation (Harvard University).
Arrell's invitations include a portrait concert at the Alte Schmiede and selection as a featured guest composer for the Pellegrini Festival of New Music (Ball State University), NEXTET (University of Nevada—Las Vegas), AURA (University of Texas—Houston), and Collide-O-Scope Music (New York). A winner of Bent Frequency's Underscore call-for-scores, Arrell holds additional prizes from the Ettelson Composer Award, Ossia New Music, the Salvatore Martirano Memorial Award, and the Fulbright-Hays Foundation. Additional recognitions include awards from the League of Composers/International Society for Contemporary Music and residencies at the MacDowell Colony and the Atlantic Center for the Arts.
Arrell's publishers include Ablaze Records, Beauport Classical, Electroshock Records, Navona, Parma Recordings, SCI, and Trevco Music.