Brief Biography

Dr. Christopher Jon Honett is an Ohio-based writer, musician, producer, and entrepreneur.

A freelance writer, he is currently completing a historical work as well as a new children’s book for hire, and recently completed the draft of his first novel. Chris is co-author of “The Listen,” a book geared toward anyone curious about new music regardless of his or her musical education, and author of “When We Say Goodnight,” a children’s book, with artist Jason Lind. His work includes fiction, essays, songs, and poetry.

A PhD recipient in music composition from Harvard University under advisor Julian Anderson, Chris studied musical composition with Mario Davidovsky, Bernard Rands, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Lee Hyla, Joshua Fineberg, Chaya Czernowin, Hans Tutschku, Magnus Lindberg, Yehudi Wyner, William Kraft, Jeremy Haladyna, and Jim Heiner. His music has been performed by Ensemble Intercontemporain, Counter)Induction, the Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble, the Arditti String Quartet, the Bang On A Can Allstars, and other groups. While at Harvard, he won the George Arthur Knight Prize for composition and the Paine Fellowship and was a Sosland Family Fellow. Prior to this, he was a three-time recipient of the Corwin Award for Composition, at UC Santa Barbara. He was also awarded the Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble Composition Prize while at Harvard.

He has held administrative roles in New York City, San Francisco, and Boston, having served as Executive Director of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Executive Director of the Manhattan Sinfonietta, Director of the Harvard Group for New Music, and owner of a small international NYC-based music business. While at Harvard, he also fulfilled an internship in the Management office of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. While in LA, Chris produced a number of short film works in conjunction with his wife, Rebecca Honett.

As a musician, he continues to actively compose and play. In 2011, he articulated the results of his research about musical time and momentum in Time & Momentum, A Brief Personal Manifesto as well as a codification of his own compositional approach — both texts open the score for In Silence.

In his compositional work, Chis is committed to a methodical and uncompromising approach to contemporary art music. Often momentum-driven and heavily rhythmic, his highly-considered and sometimes-aggressive works can fluidly integrate a diverse continuum of pitch and noise-based materials within a deeply personal approach to musical development.

Balancing lives of art and entrepreneurship, Chris and his wife also own and operate a small bed & breakfast, formerly the restaurant Bladen Landing. The couple bought 29 acres in Ohio Township in 2015 and drove from LA with everything they owned to relocate their lives, with the goals of living as independently as possible and seeking more time for their artistic pursuits. They purchased the restaurant in 2018 when health problems curtailed their homesteading pursuits. Chris’s wife, Rebecca Honett, an accomplished vocalist, performer, and educator, directs Honett Studio, which offers local private music lessons and groups classes.

Chris was born in 1977, in Hayward, California, and lives very happily by the river with his wife and two children. He always wanted an adventure.