KARIS NICHOLS

Artistic Director of the Bluestem Choir

Karis received her Bachelors of Music Education summa cum laude from Kansas State University in 2016, and is beginning her fifth year teaching music in the Rock Creek School District.  She will obtain her Masters in Music Education from University of Missouri-Kansas City in August 2020.  She currently serves as the KCDA North Central District Chair and is the 2020 Kansas Choral Directors Association Prelude Award recipient, a distinction recognizing an outstanding choral director in their first 3-5 years of teaching.  

​

She emphasizes collaboration between her ensembles and those in the community by creating a yearly tradition for the elementary school choirs to join with her High School ensembles in singing.  Her top ensemble enjoyed a 3-month collaboration with Kansas State University’s Collegium Musicum as they studied and sang Renaissance Canons and Madrigals at the KC Renaissance Festival and shared a concert with the university ensemble.  Her ensembles boast superior ratings at contest and each of the five soloists she coached earned I ratings at the State Music Festival.  

​

Karis’ love of music was nurtured through inspiring music teachers, private piano and voice lessons, and singing in the Lawrence Children’s Choir directed by Janeal Krehbiel.  She began volunteering with the Flint Hills Children’s Choir at its inception six years ago and has now served as the director of the 3-5th grade Bluestem Choir for four years.  She has treasured the privilege to be the clinician for the Northwest District Elementary Choir in 2019 and looks forward to returning to her home district in Northeast Kansas to be the Elementary Choir Clinician in 2020. 

​

​