Kris Saebo leads a varied musical life as a bassist, producer, and teacher. He is a founding member of Decoda, the Affiliate Ensemble of Carnegie Hall -recently nominated for a GRAMMY award- and is the past Co-Director of Decoda Chamber Music Festival. In this capacity, he spent ten summers performing, coaching young artists, and engaging with the surrounding communities of the festival. Kris has previously served on the faculty at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Kris most recently performed with NOVUS NY, A Far Cry, and the Mark Morris Dance Group. He has collaborated with many notable chamber ensembles including the Attacca, Dover, and Parker Quartets. Kris loves playing music of diverse genres and has worked with artists such as Sir Simon Rattle, Dawn Upshaw, Jamey Haddad, Trey Anastasio, and Nas. He also played on the Broadway show Matilda for 3 years.
As a recording artist, Kris can be heard on several films and TV soundtracks including Little Women, Venom, and Succession. Other recordings include John Zorn’s Fragmentations, Prayers And Interjections and Tyondai Braxton’s Central Market.
As a producer, Kris has produced, engineered, edited, mixed, and mastered several classical chamber and solo albums, released on PARMA Recordings, Delos, Summit, and Centaur Records. He has also composed music for two documentaries.
Kris received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, where his primary teachers were Homer Mensch and Orin O’Brien. He also held the prestigious Ensemble Connect fellowship as a member of its inaugural class. In his free time, Kris enjoys cooking and spending time with his family.