Kristen Diederichs

About Me.

Currently based in Madison, WI, Kristen Diederichs is an oboist and private music instructor passionate about chamber music and interdisciplinary collaboration. She enjoys an active performing life, freelancing both as a soloist and with chamber and large ensembles, and teaching a small studio of students. Kristen especially enjoys working with living composers on new premiere works, as well as performing in non-traditional concert settings. Recently, she has collaborated with composers including Hippocrates Cheng, Ryan Lindveit, and Aaron Hendrix. 

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Performance highlights include international tours with the St. Olaf Band and Orchestra, performing throughout Australia and New Zealand and then Norway, respectively. Kristen was also a featured soloist on the St. Olaf Band’s prize-winning 2020 tour to California, presenting Jonathan Bartz’s “Diary of Private Lives” alongside her colleague Ansley Morris. She has recently attended summer festivals including Akropolis Chamber Music Intensive, Rocky Ridge Summer Music, Domaine Forget, Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival, and Hidden Valley Music Seminars. 

Diederichs is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Oboe Performance at the University of Wisconsin- Madison's Mead Witter School of Music. She earned her Performer's Diploma and Master's degree in Oboe Performance and Literature from the Jacobs School of Music, and dual Bachelor’s degrees from St. Olaf College in Oboe Performance and Psychology/Neuroscience. Her primary teachers include Lindsay Flowers, Roger Roe, Linda Strommen, and Dana Maeda.