Chris Varga (크리스 바가) is an American vibraphonist and composer, and earlier a jazz drummer, who has worked in Seoul's jazz scene for more than two decades. He is billed Chris Varga on every release that carries his own name, on Discogs and in the Korean press, where the Bugs music service writes him 크리스 바가. No source gives his date or place of birth or his citizenship. Reviews and a 2004 newspaper item describe him as a DePaul University alumnus who played in Chicago in the 1990s, and the Mung Music label describes him as someone who moved to Korea from the United States. His place in the Korean section rests on his working life: records, concerts and teaching in Seoul since the early 2000s, with his first dated Korean credits in 2000 and 2002.

His student years are documented on record. Discogs credits him on vibraphone on Something to Live For (DePaul University School of Music, 1996), a CD by the DePaul University Jazz Ensemble under the trumpeter Bob Lark whose tracks were recorded in 1995 and 1996 and whose saxophone section included Rudresh Mahanthappa. He is also named as the vibraphone soloist on "When I Look in Your Eyes" on Night School: 8 Minutes to the Loop (Wild Ear Music, 1999), a DePaul ensemble album led by the bass trombonist Charles Vernon. In 2000 he played drums on the singer Eden Atwood's My Ideal (Sangaji Music, Singapore) with the pianist Jeremy Monteiro and the bassist Clark Sommers, who would return on his 2025 album.

The year he reached Korea is not settled. A 2025 press note says he moved in the 1990s, while Mung Music dates his place in the Korean scene to the early 2000s. The earliest Korean credit found is the soundtrack of the 2000 film 순애보 (Asako in Ruby Shoes), where Bugs lists him on "WanderWonderLand (Main Theme Variation)". Discogs then shows him on three tracks of the 2002 CD Missing by the group JS Culture, on which he plays drums, and Bugs gives 2003 as his debut year. On July 1, 2004 the Korea JoongAng Daily announced a Seoul Arts Center recital hall concert for July 10 by the pianist Ronn Branton's quartet, with Don Gieles on saxophone, Varga on drums and Jeon Seong-sik on bass. The article calls Varga a DePaul alumnus based in Seoul, where he performed, recorded and taught, says he had backed Ulf Wakenius and Terence Blanchard, and says he and Jeon had played the Rochester International Jazz Festival, a bill headlined by Bobby McFerrin.

Through the 2000s he was a working drummer on Korean records. With the bassist Kim Changhyun and the tenor saxophonist Kenji Omae he formed the C2K Trio, whose Unbalanced Beauty (STM, July 6, 2006) has nine originals, three by each player, and Cole Porter's "Just One of Those Things". The review text on Bugs, credited to Proud and Kwon Oh-kyung (권오경), calls it a Korea, United States and Japan collaboration and argues that, although two of its three players are foreigners, their long ties to Korea make it a Korean record. A second text on the same page says he had earlier played drums on Yeo Jin's In Gray (2006) and, with Omae, had been a session player on Im In Gun's 피아노가 된 나무 (2004); those two credits rest on that text alone. Discogs also lists him on drums on CJ Kim's Stranger's Tears (Blue Note, 2006), The Simply Ocean's Recollection (Pleasantville Records, May 2008), and the opening track of Yoon Jong-shin's 행보 2011 (Mirrorball Music), and on vibraphone and percussion on Jo Yeong-wook's soundtrack to I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (Fargo Music, December 13, 2006).

His first album under his own name, Inertia, appeared on November 20, 2008, distributed by Genie Music with Rubis Polka as the agency. It has eleven tracks in about an hour, and every one is a duet with a Korean pianist: Song Young-joo on "If You Never Come To Me" and a version of "Because I Love You", Lee Ji-young on "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" and "Imjin River", Lee Young-kyung on "Isn't She Lovely", the title track on the service, and "Naima", Kim Kwang Min on "My Foolish Heart" and "The Long and Winding Road", Mijung Lim on "Body and Soul" and the title piece, and Noh Young-sim on "Scarborough Fair". Bugs files it as fusion jazz and describes him as a leading vibraphonist and jazz drummer active in Korea. Bugs gives the pianists by their Korean names: 송영주, 이지영, 이영경, 김광민, 임미정 and 노영심.

Dancer In followed, listed on Bugs with a release date of March 18, 2010 and called his second vibraphone record. Its ten tracks pair five jazz standards, among them "From This Moment On", "Time After Time" and "Star Eyes", with five of his own pieces, and the singer Sohee (소히) guests on "Ain't No Sunshine". The Bugs text names Omae on saxophone, the guitarist Han Woong-gi, and the bassist Clark Sommers and drummer Mark Ferber, who it says travelled to Korea for the sessions. Bugs marks the tracks as unavailable at the rights holder's request. Apple Music lists a five-track Dancer In dated April 14, 2013, and a track of that name appears on the 2011 Jazzpeople magazine compilation Rainbow 2010 Korean Jazz Best 27, which Discogs credits to his page without itemizing players.

From the 2010s the vibraphone took over. Mung Music writes that he first worked in Korea as a drummer and later played vibraphone exclusively. Discogs lists him on vibraphone on Hena's 사랑니 (Audioguy Records, July 4, 2017), and on two tracks of Sunjae Lee's Entropy (2019), "Entropy" and "World on Fire", recorded at Yireh Music Studios in Seoul with the trumpeter Peter Evans. Lee runs Mung Music, which issued Varga's later records. In 2024 Varga's name is among the lyricists of Hae In Cho's Sight Beyond Sight, with Cho and Junho Song, and Bugs lists the album among his contributions.

Vichāra (Mung Music, 2023) is a solo vibraphone record of ten improvisations recorded at Stellive.kr in Seoul in February 2023, with mixing, mastering and artwork by Sunjae Lee; the label's own release date is September 6, 2023, and streaming services carry December 1, 2023. Its tracks run between about two and three and a half minutes: "Swell", "Ballroom", "The Healer", "Phobia", "Surge", "Elan Games", "Quarkster", "Anna's Theme", "Badgering" and "Specific Impulse". His trio Trio Skein, with the drummer Junyoung Song and the bassist Doyoung Kim, followed with Ninth House (Mung Music, November 29, 2024). Its eight pieces are two improvisations and six Varga compositions, recorded, mixed and mastered by Lee; the label describes the three as longtime collaborators in both jazz and improvisation circles.

Breathe (Calligram Records, 2025) is his first album recorded in the United States. During an extended stay in 2024 he gathered Chicago friends at Pro Musica in Chicago on June 24, 2024: the guitarist Dave Miller, Clark Sommers on bass, Neil Hemphill on drums, and Geof Bradfield on tenor saxophone on four of the eight tracks. The Chicago label was founded in 2023 by Bradfield and the trumpeter Chad McCullough. Reviews were warm: All About Jazz ran pieces by Dan McClenaghan on March 20 and Jack Bowers on March 31, 2025, Making a Scene and Textura reviewed it that spring, and Take Effect Reviews gave it nine out of ten on October 26, 2025. The 2025 reviews say he had lived in Seoul for more than two decades. All About Jazz says he returned "home" to Chicago in 2024, and none of the sources found says where he is based now.

His own writing, as the reviewers describe it, is structured but open to long solos. Textura heard intricately built tunes that leave room for improvisation, an odd-meter piece, "Lid", that alternates 9/8 with 4/4, and a samba feel on "TMI" in which the rhythm section drives Bradfield in a way that recalled Ed Blackwell behind Ornette Coleman on Ornette on Tenor. Varga told the press that much of Breathe drew on 1980s pop and hoped the influence would disappear into the playing; Textura named Tears for Fears and Depeche Mode as reference points for "Framing the Dragon" and "TMI". All About Jazz's McClenaghan said a blind listener could take the record for a modern Blue Note date, with an exploratory edge that put him in mind of the vibraphonist Joel Ross and the saxophonist Melissa Aldana. The closing piece, "Gentle Vicissitudes", adapts the Korean folk song "About 500 Years".

The Seoul records go in a different direction. Vichāra is a set of solo improvisations on sound and overtone, and Ninth House mixes free improvisation with new pieces for the trio; Discogs files Vichāra under Free Improvisation and Ninth House under Avant-garde Jazz and Free Jazz. Inertia and Dancer In sit closer to melodic fusion and standards, and Bugs tags both as fusion jazz.