Top Artist

Kris Yvon Yenney, MM

Title: 1) Founder and Artistic Director; 2) Intentional Cellist; 3) Private Instructor
Company: 1) Cage Free Concerts
Location: Ashland, California, United States

Kris Yvon Yenney, MM, founder and artistic director at Cage Free Concerts, as well as an international cellist, and private instructor, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Artists for dedication, achievements, and leadership in the music industry.

With over five decades of experience to her credit, Ms. Yenney has established a successful career in the music industry. Throughout her career, she has specialized in musical performance, specifically with the cello, as well as chamber music, Celtic music, Nordic traditional (Nyckelharpa) music, and conducting. She also focuses on coaching musical performances, composing music, creating visual arts, and private cello instruction. Moreover, Ms. Yenney currently excels as the founder and artistic director of Cage Free Concerts, a position she has held since 2019. 

Prior to this post, Ms. Yenney had served as upper school music director at Shady Hill School between 1991 and 1992, an instrumental and liturgical music director for Sacred Heart Preparatory in Atherton, Nuevo Learning Center, and Woodside Priory School between 1991 and 2007, and a director, conductor, and coach for the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra, SuperStrings, and Festival Ensembles between 1999 and 2016. She has been additionally active as a pit musician and actors’ coach for TheatreWorks since 2000, a cellist and vocalist for Broceliande since 1999, and a professional cellist, nyckelharpist, and vocalist at San Jose Symphony and Midsummer Mozart Orchestra since 1975. Ms. Yenney was likewise recruited as a performer in “Much Ado About Nothing” at Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2024, and a performer and ambassador for the New England String Quartet. 

Ms. Yenney was notably selected as an invited performer with Yo-Yo Ma and Fred Hersch, a performer with the Santa Fe Actors’ Theater, Theater Schmeater, and Rhode Island Repertory Theater, and a solo performer with the Junior and Senior Ensembles at the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra. Furthermore, she has contributed her artwork to be featured in magazines, album covers, print media, stationery, and private collections. Additionally, Ms. Yenney has worked as a performer for Ukraine Benefits, a volunteer musician and a young audiences ambassador for Beauty in the Park, and the coordinator of benefit concerts for “No Nukes” AFM Musicians Union Local Six with the American Federation of Musicians. 

Ms. Yenney’s proudest accomplishments include curating and presenting the popular Cage Free Concerts series in Ashland, Oregon and becoming the first woman to win the prestigious national John W. Work III Composers’ Competition in 1985. In light of her impressive undertakings, she was honored with the Great News Award in 2024, inducted into Who’s Who in American Colleges, and recognized as a winner of the California Cello Club Competition. Laying a solid educational foundation, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in cello performance and theory from Purchase College at the State University of New York in 1983 and a Master of Music in cello performance at the New England Conservatory of Music in 1985. Ms. Yenney likewise completed postgraduate coursework and training at The Juilliard School, The Meadowmount School of Music, and Savhal Mòr Ostaig.

Ms. Yenney has attributed her success to her ability to embrace opportunities however and whenever they arise. Fostering an attitude that allows her to face any challenge, she handles every commitment seriously, accepting responsibility for all of her actions even if she exhibits a sense of lightheartedness in her creative endeavors. Looking toward the future, Ms. Yenney hopes to collaborate with esteemed musicians in her field and usher Cage Free Concerts into the nonprofit sector.

For more information, please visit:

Cellosopher – Kris Yvon Yenney 

Cage Free Concerts

Contact Ms. Yenney:

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