Kris Kwapis (trumpet) grew up in rural Michigan where her first job was working at a dairy farm, but her first musical performances were forced upon her neighbors while she sang Dolly Parton songs at the top of her lungs while swinging on the backyard swing-set. By age 10, Kris turned her musical focus toward the trumpet and it has been a wild ride ever since. She regularly collaborates as soloist and principal trumpet with period-instrument ensembles across North America, including Portland Baroque Orchestra, Early Music Vancouver, Bach Collegium San Diego, Staunton Music Festival, Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Montana Early Music Festival, and Bourbon Baroque. A student of Armando Ghitalla on modern trumpet, with a BM and MM in trumpet performance from the University of Michigan, Dr. Kwapis also holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in historical performance from Stony Brook University.
On modern trumpet, she was a professor at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY for a decade and has taught privately since she was a high school student. Kris enjoys sharing her passion of exploring historical performance with the next generation of performers and teachers as a faculty member at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music Historical Performance Institute in addition to teaching at her home in Seattle and online. When not playing, writing, speaking or thinking about music, she is active as a visual artist in the encaustic medium, an avid cook, home remodeler, aspiring gardener, and co-parent of two adorable cats with her equally adorable partner Mark. www.kriskwapis.com
