First and foremost a composer of songs, Christopher Berg has been called "an American Hugo Wolf" by the American Record Guide. Though self-taught as a composer, several composer mentors have encouraged him, most significantly the late Robert Helps with whom he studied piano. The Mirror Visions Ensemble was formed in New Haven, Connecticut in 1992 to explore and perform song repertoire, in particular multiple settings of texts. The ensemble's first concert was sponsored by the Yale University Art Gallery, and since then exhibitions and poetry have provided the inspiration and focus of much of their work. In 2000, the ensemble created a program which accompanied the exhibition Edward Lear and the Art of Travel at the Yale Center for British Art. Also in 200, the ensemble inaugurated the Leo Smit Concert Series at the Jones Library in Amherst with a performance of compositions based on the poetry and letters of Emily Dickinson in celebration of the poet's 170th birthday.