Charles F. Kip Winger

C. F. Kip Winger

Growing up with Jazz musician parents, C. F. Kip Winger discovered his attraction to music at a very young age. A remarkably multifaceted professional journey led to some unpredictable destinations before the Grammy-nominated composer decided to focus his creative drive on symphonic and ballet music.

Winger’s versatile career has encompassed touring and recording as a bass guitarist and vocalist with such rock legends as Alice Cooper, Alan Parsons, Bob Dylan, Roger Daltrey, and Twisted Sister. In 1987, he established the eponymous and hugely successful glam/progressive metal band Winger, which sold millions of albums, 6 Billboard Top-40 singles and continues to tour and record. Winger released their 7th studio album SEVEN which entered at #21 on Billboard’s Top Current Album Sales (or #25 Album Sales).

London’s Classic Rock Magazine called Kip Winger “one of the most gifted composers and arrangers of the past three decades”.

Winger meanwhile began pursuing a solo songwriting career, with widely acclaimed albums like This Conversation Seems Like A Dream and Songs From The Ocean Floor, but also circled back to his early love for classical music and ballet.

“You’re a classical composer disguised as a metal guy”, remarked the contemporary composer Richard Danielpour, who became one of his most significant teachers. A breakthrough came when Winger’s composition Ghosts caught the attention of Christopher Wheeldon. The Tony-award-winning choreographer commissioned him to expand the score for San Francisco Ballet, which introduced the complete staged version in 2010. Ghosts went on to be produced in New York, London, and Paris, becoming one of the most celebrated contemporary ballet scores.

Following his success with Ghosts, which has become one of the most celebrated contemporary ballet scores,(we already said that above) Winger composed Conversations with Nijinsky. This orchestral work imagines the storied dancer/choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky performing “unseen dances” that his schizophrenia prevented him from expressing. The San Francisco Ballet Orchestra’s recording of the score on the 2016 album Winger: Conversations with Nijinsky earned a Grammy nomination in the Best Contemporary Classical Composition category.

Tamara Nijinsky said at the opening performance of Conversations with Nijinsky, “Kip Winger has captured my father’s heart and soul... and reminds us of my father’s genius with his own work”.

Winger has forged an ongoing relationship with the Nashville Symphony, his hometown orchestra since settling in Music City in 2002. The ensemble’s music director Giancarlo Guerrero persuaded Winger to write his first symphony, Atonement, which the Nashville Symphony premiered in March 2023; in the 2024-25 season, they will present his newly commissioned violin concerto and release a CD of his music on Naxos Records.

Winger also made his debut as a theatrical composer with Get Jack: A Musical Thriller, which tells the story of five women Jack the Ripper killed who come back for vengeance on Jack. Presented in concert in New York in October 2019, Get Jack is currently in development stage.