Karis Zeller

Karis is a knowledgable, passionate and highly engaged musician with extensive experience teaching music in the United States and East Africa. She is currently teaching in Berlin, Germany, and has an active Suzuki studio, as well as continuing to be involved in American and European Suzuki organizations.

She has been involved in many cross cultural musical activities in East Africa, including the Nairobi Symphony Orchestra, Zeze Chamber Strings, and the Kenya Conservatoire of Music Orchestra. Karis has performed as a soloist in the United States, Europe, East Africa, and Central America. She hopes to continue to use her music teaching and performing abilities to further develop young musicians and leaders across the world.

Karis is also involved with El Sistema, a unique education initiative that develops under-privileged communities through teaching music. It has been exceptionally successful in Latin America, where it has reached over 500,000 children, changing lives through music with limited resources. Karis has started her own project called El Sistema Kenya using the Suzuki Method in Nairobi, with a wider goal to scale the project to the rest of Kenya and East Africa in the next few years. She has also worked with El Sistema inspired programs in Michigan (Strings to Schools with the St. Cecilia Music Society) and New York City (Harmony Program). She is also an Associate Editor for the World Ensemble Newsletter with Eric Booth, a quarterly newsletter about El Sistema programs around the world.

If you would like to support El Sistema Kenya’s initiative in the slums of Kenya, please contact Karis and check out our website and our Facebook page for more information. We are always looking for more instruments, books, accessories and links to potential funders. Anything that you can contribute is very much appreciated!