A graduate of Yale University and, recently, the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists, bass-baritone Christian van Horn has won numerous awards including the 2003 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and Sarah Tucker Study Grant; first place at the 2002 MacAllister Competition Collegiate Division; prize winner in the 2002 Liederkranz Foundation Vocal Competition; and the Richman Award from Opera Theatre of St. Louis in August 2007, where he also participated in the American premiere of Flight by Jonathan Dove, as the Immigration Officer, a particularly apt role considering his recent appointment at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. His debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper is in the role of Colline in La Bohème, a role he has performed previously with the Los Angeles and Baltimore Opera Companies.

Having just finished his international debut with the Salzburg Festival, Christian was most recently in Austin, Texas singing his first Verdi Requiem. In 2008, Christian was heard for the first time as Timur in Turandot with the Fort Worth Opera and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor with Virginia Opera, as well as Nourabad in The Pearl Fishers with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Other recent engagements include his debuts at Arizona Opera and Chicago Opera Theater as Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro; at Opera Pacific as Zuniga in Carmen; t and the Santa Fe Opera in Tan Dun's opera Tea: A Mirror of the Soul.

Last season he created the role of Karenin in the world premiere of the opera Anna Karenin by David Carlson with the Florida Grand Opera, which is slated to be released commercially on CD. Previously at Florida Grand he portrayed Masetto in Don Giovanni and the Duke of Verona in Romeo et Juliette. Christian's debut with The Shakespeare Concerts recording also marks the first time he and his wife, Kellie, have had the opportunity to work together professionally.