Kristina Koller hails from Westchester County, NY. The jazz vocalist’s unique timbre and contemporary style drives a fresh interpretation of jazz standards. Kristina performs regularly in the New York metro area in duo, trio & quartet.

At an early age, Kristina began her musical exploration performing in musical theater. When she was 8 years old she performed in a small production of ‘Guy & Dolls’ and was thoroughly mesmerized by the experience.  Once she hit the stage she couldn’t stay off it. Fortunately there were many youth-oriented musical theater programs in Westchester and by the time she was 16 years old, she had performed in about 40 musicals. Her musical theater abilities grew as a student of NYU’s CAP21 advanced theater program. Kristina eventually drifted away from musical theater and became interested in singing classical art songs & opera. During her classical study years, she performed in Taconic Opera’s production of ‘Tosca’. As her vocal dynamics improved, she became a more expressive singer and desired to sing more interpretive and freestyle contemporary songs.  The artists that she loved, Ingrid Michaelson, Bon Iver and Amy Winehouse, influenced her vocal style.  She started to perform solo with guitar in hand at local open mics. At one of the open mics, Chris Bro (a DJ for the radio station 107.1 The Peak) was impressed by her expressive voice and originality, He asked her to record a song to play on his radio show. Kristina’s version of Coldplay’s ‘Yellow’ was voted best new song of the week & best new song of the month on Chris’ ‘Next Show’ radio program.

As her enjoyment performing contemporary songs increased, her interest in continuing her classical studies waned.  Always listening to different styles of music, she immersed herself in jazz & swing music legends Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Frank Sinatra. This creative style of singing was more in-tune to the musical direction Kristina was taking.  Fortunately, Kristina’s high school in Yorktown had a quartet of young jazz musicians called the ‘Swing Four’ that performed regularly in Westchester County. Kristina joined them and  the ‘Swing Four’ added  a vocal dynamic to their group. As she entered her senior year of high school, Kristina had a clear direction to continue her music enrichment – performing with like-minded young jazz musicians and pursuing a jazz-based music education.  Kristina received a music scholarship to attend the Hartt School’s Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz. After attending the jazz institute for two years, Kristina returned home to be closer to the NYC jazz scene. She is now enrolled at The City College of New York where she is completing her undergrad degree in Jazz Studies. Kristina sings at many of the jazz jam sessions hosted by Minton’s, Smoke and Smalls jazz clubs. She has had the great fortune of working with accomplished jazz vocalists Suzanne Pittson, Shawnn Monteiro, Carolyn Leonhart and Marianne Solivan.