Kristen Marie is a musician & multi-instrumentalist based in Northern California. Hailing from Northeast Ohio, at 10, she began taking cello lessons in school, which then led to taking years of private cello lessons. She went on to sit through hundreds of hours of symphony orchestra & chamber ensemble rehearsals, where her love of diverse instrumentation & layered sounds was first cultivated.

She received formal classical training & studied cello at the Cleveland Institute of Music through high school, and went on to study Cello Performance & Music Education at both Denison University & The Ohio State University. 

After teaching for a local music lessons studio for a few years in college, she started her own business, Kristen Marie Melodies, and started working for herself, continuing to offer private lessons & employing other teachers. The focus of KMM was to prepare students to perform at bi-annual recitals held at local live music venues - which gave students the experience of performing on a real stage just like professional musicians and rockstars. During her time in college, she started to play bass in bands & took on the task of mastering more instruments beyond cello, including guitar, violin, piano, bass, & ukulele. 

Kristen has maintained a year-round full time teaching schedule as a private cello, violin, guitar, bass, ukulele, voice, and songwriting instructor for 15 years, and is passionate about helping others find their way along the path of their musical journey.

She went on tour as a cellist in the strings section of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra in 2011 & 2014, and most recently played cello with the heavy metal band Disturbed at the Sonic Temple Festival in Columbus, OH in 2019. In 2020, she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to continue teaching & performing, and has since relocated to Midtown Sacramento.