Kristina La Marca

Graduate Student Instructor

klamarca@umich.edu

Kristina La Marca will begin her Master’s degree in Wind Conducting at the University of Michigan in the fall of 2024. Kristina is currently in her eleventh year of teaching and fifth year as Director of Instrumental Music at The American International School of Muscat, Oman. She conducts eight secondary-level wind, jazz, and percussion ensembles with representation from over 30 different countries. During her time at TAISM, her middle and high school students have placed in regional and international honor bands in the United Arab Emirates, India, Scotland, Switzerland, and South Africa. She is an active member and adjudicator for the Association for Music in International Schools, most recently presenting at the 2023 AMIS Music Educators' Conference in Zagreb, Croatia, and serving as an Assistant Conductor for the inaugural African MS Honor Band in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Her previous appointments in the United States include Associate Director of Bands at Klein Collins High School in Spring, Texas, Assistant Director of Bands at Lawrence Central High School, and Director of Bands at Belzer Middle School in Indianapolis, Indiana. Her ensembles have received top honors including “Sweepstakes” and “Gold” ratings at UIL and ISSMA contests, and were Bands of America and TMEA Region 9 Finalists. Her jazz ensembles have held guest collaborations with artists including Emmet Cohen, Joey Tartell, and the Metta Quintet through JazzReach.

Kristina was a 2021 Reynolds Conducting Fellow at The 75th Midwest Clinic and is a recipient of the 2017 Eli Lilly Teacher Creativity Fellowship Grant for her project “Whale Songs for Wind Band: Capturing the music of Norwegian Orcas”. Kristina is a 2013 graduate of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where she studied saxophone with Otis Murphy.   

Outside of music, Kristina is a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor and passionate technical diver with Global Underwater Explorers.