Christopher Cerrone (b. 1984, New York) is internationally acclaimed for his compositions. His work is characterized by a subtle handling of timbre and resonance, a deep literary fluency, and a flair for multimedia collaborations. Cerrone's music balances lushness and austerity, immersive textures and telling details, dramatic impact and interiority. His three-time GRAMMY-nominated compositions are utterly compelling and uniquely his own.

Beaufort Scales, an oratorio for voices, electronics, and video, was commissioned and performed by Lorelei Ensemble and premiered at Mass MoCA in November 2023; its recording on Cold Blue Music earned him his latest GRAMMY nomination. His opera In a Grove (libretto by Stephanie Fleischmann), premiered in March 2022 to sold-out audiences in a co-production by Pittsburgh Opera and LA Opera, directed by Mary Birnbaum. The opera had its midwestern premiere at Northwestern University in Fall 2022 and will make its New York debut at the PROTOTYPE Festival in January 2025. The studio recording of In a Grove was named one of the best recordings of 2023 by The New York Times, which praised: "Not a word or note is without purpose, and both are captured, if not enhanced, in this richly produced recording."

Recent major works include The Year of Silence, based on the story by Kevin Brockmeier, for the Louisville Symphony and baritone Dashon Burton; A Body, Moving, a brass concerto for the Cincinnati Symphony; Breaks and Breaks, a violin concerto for Jennifer Koh and the Detroit Symphony; The Insects Became Magnetic, an orchestral work with electronics for the Los Angeles Philharmonic; and The Air Suspended, a piano concerto for Shai Wosner and a consortium of American orchestras. Upcoming projects include new large-scale works for the LA Philharmonic, Roomful of Teeth, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and The Crossing.

Cerrone's first opera, Invisible Cities, a 2014 Pulitzer Prize finalist, was praised by the Los Angeles Times as "A delicate and beautiful opera…[which] could be, and should be, done anywhere." It received its fully-staged world premiere in a wildly popular production by The Industry, directed by Yuval Sharon, in Los Angeles' Union Station. Both the film and opera are available as CDs, DVDs, and digital downloads. In July 2019, New Amsterdam Records released his sophomore effort, The Pieces that Fall to Earth, featuring collaborations with the LA-based chamber orchestra Wild Up, to widespread acclaim, including his first GRAMMY nomination. The Arching Path (2021, In a Circle Records), featuring performances by Timo Andres, Ian Rosenbaum, Lindsay Kesselman, and Mingzhe Wang, earned him his second GRAMMY nomination in 2022.

A recipient of the 2015–2016 Samuel Barber Rome Prize in Music Composition, Cerrone was also a resident at the Laurenz Haus Foundation in Basel, Switzerland from 2022–2023. He holds degrees from the Yale School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music. He is published by Schott NY and Project Schott New York. In 2021, he joined the composition faculty at Mannes School of Music at The New School. He lives in the Journal Square neighborhood of Jersey City with his wife.