Guest conductor Christopher Ramaekers makes his Lake County Symphony Orchestra debut this December.

Ramaekers currently serves as Director of Orchestral Activities at the University of Texas at El Paso and as Music Director of both Symphony847 and Access Contemporary Music in Chicago. He spent twelve years on the podium at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and has led ensembles across the Midwest, including the Lake Forest Civic Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Vincent's, the Hyde Park Youth Symphony, and the Middleton Community Orchestra, alongside posts as Assistant Conductor of the Quad-City Symphony, Associate Conductor of the Chicago Composers Orchestra, and Principal Conductor of the Ravenswood Community Orchestra.

For nine summers, Ramaekers conducted at Camp Encore/Coda in Maine, and he spent four summers as music director of the Savoyards Gilbert and Sullivan Company in Madison, Wisconsin. As a guest conductor, he has appeared with the Kenosha, Kalamazoo, Beloit-Janesville, and Skokie Valley Symphonies, the Salt Creek Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Dal Niente, and the Chicago Opera Vanguard, and can be heard on recordings with Symphony847, the Spektral Quartet, and the Chicago Composers Orchestra. He has held fellowships with the Allentown Symphony Orchestra and the Peninsula Music Festival, and won the American Prize in Orchestral Conducting in 2011.

Ramaekers earned his Bachelor of Music in Trumpet Performance from Western Michigan University, followed by a Master of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Orchestral Conducting, both from Northwestern University, where he studied with Victor Yampolsky. He is known for his innovative programming, pairing core orchestral repertoire with works by living composers in ways that deepen the experience for musicians and audiences alike.