Tristen Krueger is a 22-year-old guitarist from the greater Philadelphia area and is a recent graduate of the jazz guitar program at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) led by Brad Myers. He grew up taking guitar and drum lessons as a child and eventually formed a few bands in high school in which he played songs from artists like John Mayer, Dave Matthews, and Marcus King. Tristen was mainly focused on playing rock and singer-songwriter music before being drawn to other guitarists in the RnB and jazz realms like Isaiah Sharkey, Pat Metheny, and John Scofield. Coming from a musical family of opera singers and pianists, the pursuit of a musical education was always in the picture and felt that in order to reach a comparable level to his idols, he needed to study music that was outside of his comfort zone.
While attending CCM, Tristen participated in a number of ensembles including, straight ahead jazz combos, jazz fusion combo, jazz lab band, Brazilian jazz, the guitar ensemble, and musical pit orchestras. During his junior and senior years, Tristen had the honor and incredible learning experience of working under the musical direction of Jeffery Saver for the 30 Years of Stephen Flaherty production with the CCM Philharmonia Orchestra which was performed at CCM and Carnegie Hall. Outside of school Tristen participated in various professional projects ranging from the ICC which is a funk/jazz organ quartet, to a tango quintet called Quintango. You may find him performing in various groups around Cincinnati on a weekly basis.
On top of performing, Tristen enjoys teaching and motivating aspiring guitarists to pursue their passion for music in private and group lesson settings. He has worked for West Chester Academy, School of Rock and Western Hills Music in various capacities.