Kris Wildman grew up hearing her trained tenor father sing opera in the shower and has been singing for as long as she can remember. She has performed choral and solo repertoire spanning several centuries in churches, synagogues, schools, and senior facilities. Her collaborations include performances with the Desert Chorale of Santa Fe, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Chorus, and numerous regional musical theatre productions. For 18 years, Kris toured nationally as the principal soprano with Opera à la Carte (specializing in Gilbert and Sullivan), and both nationally and internationally with Campanile, transforming English handbells into a dynamic form of percussion theatre. From 2003 to 2006, she pursued an MFA in Voice Performance at the California Institute of the Arts. Her graduation recital was a funded interdisciplinary project featuring music exclusively by living American women composers.
Since relocating to Selma, Oregon in 2014, Kris has performed with the Southern Oregon Repertory Singers, the Jefferson Baroque Orchestra, the Illinois Valley Community Choir, and has developed collaborative partnerships to present house concerts throughout Jackson and Josephine Counties. In recent years, she has become increasingly active in the science fiction and fantasy music community (known as “filksinging”), including a 2018 performance at the World Science Fiction Convention in San Jose as part of the duo Resounding, and her first solo concert at Denver's Westercon that same year.
In 2023, Kris rejoined the Southern Oregon Guild of Artists and Artisans and is proud to be part of its developing performance arm, particpating in annual performing arts showcases, Creativity Unframed. Around the same time, she began DJ-ing on local community radio station KXCJ, hosting the “Old Growth Classical” program every second Sunday of the month. Her weekly show Vox—dedicated to vocal music across genres and eras—can be enjoyed every Tuesday from 1-2pm on 105.7 or 101.3fm and via streaming at www.kxcj.org. Kris also serves as Board President of the Illinois River Valley Arts Council (IRVAC). Through the Council's “Learning Through Arts” initiative, she has brought music to Evergreen Elementary School in Cave Junction and plans to expand her outreach during the 2025-2026 school year to include all Illinois Valley schools, including the region’s new Kalmiopsis Community Arts High School.