Christopher Volpe has been a member of the Minnesota Opera Orchestra trumpet section since 1999. An active performer in the Twin Cities, he is also principal trumpet of the Minnesota Sinfonia. Volpe's orchestral, opera, and ballet credits include performances with the Minnesota Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera (NYC), Chicago Lyric Opera, Houston Grand Opera, The Three Tenors, American Ballet Theater, Joffry, Dance Theater of Harlem, Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, and New York City Ballet. His Broadway credits include national tours of Phantom of the Opera, Showboat (with Cloris Leachman and Ned Beatty), Victor/Victoria (with Julie Andrews), The Producers, Miss Saigon, and Fosse, among many others. As an active performer in the popular music world, he has played with such artists as Prince, The Moody Blues, The Temptations, Manheim Steamroller, Styx, Olivia Newton John and Paul Simon. A graduate of Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, Volpe studied with his father, Clement Volpe of the Minnesota Orchestra, and Vincent Cichowicz of Northwestern University and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He currently lives in Minneapolis, and has taught on the music faculty at the University of St. Thomas since 1996.