University of North Carolina - Michael Kris

Michael Kris is the instructor of low brass and director of brass chamber music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also on the performance faculty at Duke University and the Eastern Music Festival. Mr. Kris is a regular performer with the North Carolina Symphony, North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra, North Carolina Theater, North Carolina Opera and a variety of chamber music ensembles.

As a performer, Mr. Kris is currently Second Trombone in the Eastern Music Festival Philharmonic and has been a member of the North Carolina Symphony, serving as Principal and Second Trombone. In addition, he has been a member of the Winston-Salem Symphony and the Greensboro Symphony and has performed with several orchestras throughout the eastern United States.

Apart from his orchestral work, Mr. Kris is an active soloist and clinician performing and teaching throughout the southeast. As a jazz musician, he has toured with groups in the United States and Europe and has worked with artists such as Tony Bennett, Clark Terry and Natalie Cole. Mr. Kris attended McNeese State University and the Cincinnati College/Conservatory of Music where he studied with Mr. Tony Chipurn, retired principal trombone of the Cincinnati Symphony. Mr. Kris has earned a bachelor of music education as well as a master of music in trombone performance. Prior to his appointment at the University of North Carolina, Mr. Kris held teaching posts at North Carolina Central University, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and St. Augustines College.