Christopher Jenkins, viola Christopher Jenkins, violist and NYC native, is an active chamber musician in the New York area and beyond. Having played three seasons with the African-American string octet The Young Eight, Chris is also the newest member of Invert, an alternative string quartet performing at venues such as CBGBs and the Knitting Factory, and which engaged in its first extended U.S. tour last fall opening for indie-rock band Rachel's. Semifinalist in the 2003 and 2004 Sphinx Competitions and Third-Place Laureate of the 2005 Competition, Chris has also served as violist for the Sphinx Quartet, and performed at the Quartet's Carnegie debuts in both Stern and Weill halls in 2005. In May of 2005, the Sphinx Quartet performed with the Guarneri Quartet at the University of Michigan's Ford Honors Concert. As a chamber musician, the performers with whom Mr. Jenkins has collaborated include Itzhak Perlman, Ron Leonard, the Guarneris, Mikhail Kopelman of the Borodin Quartet, Sanford Allen, Jesse Levine, and David Geber of the American String Quartet. As an orchestral musician, he is currently a substitute player with the New York Philharmonic, and performs with the Soulful Symphony in partnership with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. In less classically-oriented arenas, Mr. Jenkins has worked as a jazz violinst, playing solo on a tour of England with jazz great George Russell and his Living Time Orchestra, which performed in Manchester and at London's Barbican Hall. He has also performed as a member of the band Rachel's in Merkin Hall, and in Sufijan Stevens' band at Lincoln Center. In the spring of 2004, Mr. Jenkins graduated from the Manhattan School of Music, where he earned a Professional Certificate studying with Michael Tree and Karen Dreyfus. He earned his M.M. at New England Conservatory, where he studied with Martha Katz, and his B.A. at Harvard University, where he studied music and psychology and took lessons with Michelle LaCourse. He maintains a teaching studio at The Bloomingdale School of Music in New York City.