Saxophonist/clarinetist Debra Kreisberg performs, composes, arranges and records with the New York City-based Latin jazz ensemble, Los Mas Valientes and the award-winning klezmer ensembles, Metropolitan Klezmer and Isle of Klezbos, with whom she has toured in the U.S., Canada and in Europe. She is also the leader of The Highliners Jazz Quartet, and freelances in New York City, Boston, and the tri-state region.
Debra performed on clarinet, bass clarinet and penny whistle in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's production of the Tony-Award-winning play Indecent. Debra has performed with renowned singer-songwriters Natalie Merchant, Jill Sobule, and Rachelle Garniez; jazz luminaries Paquito D'Rivera, Harvie S, Chuck Redd, Sheryl Bailey and Tommy Campbell; Bronx Conexión Latin Jazz Big Band; the global blues project Hazmat Modine; and Taylor Mac in the world premiere of Taylor Mac's 24-Decade History of Popular Music at St. Ann's Warehouse. Her playing and compositions have been heard on CBS Sunday Morning, CNN Worldbeat, WBGO, SiriusXM Radio, Ebru TV’s Rhythm and Roots and on Showtime's The L Word.
A graduate of the Eastman School of Music with a masters in jazz performance from Manhattan School of Music, Debra is a full-time Upper and Middle School Instrumental Music Teacher at Beaver Country Day School, in Brookline, MA. She has previously served on the faculties of The Trinity School, Bronx Arts Ensemble, and Arturo O'Farrill's Afro Latin Jazz Alliance, all in New York City.
Continually cultivating a growth mindset, Debra recently began learning electric bass in a quest to expand her teaching and performing skills. She studies privately with Jef Charland, and performs on bass with her student ensembles.
CBS Sunday Morning
CNN Worldbeat
The L Word, Showtime
Rhythm and Roots, Ebru TV
WAMC, Northeast Public Radio
WBGO
WKCR, live broadcast
Arizona
Musical Instrument Museum-Phoenix
Northern Arizona University-Flagstaff
Rialto Theatre-Tuscon
Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts-Scottsdale
Austria
KlezMORE Fesitvial Vienna
California
Berkeley Jewish Music Festival–Berkeley
Torrance Cultural Arts Center–Los Angeles
Colorado
Mizel Arts and Cultural Center–Denver
Florida
University of Miami, Frost School of Music
New Jersey
Count Basie Theater–Red Bank
The Puffin Cultural Forum - Teaneck
New York
54 Below
92nd Street Y
Barbés–Brooklyn
Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts
Cornelia Street Cafe
Corning Museum of Glass
City Winery
David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center
Joe's Pub
Rockwood Music Hall
St. Ann's Warehouse
Tomi Jazz
Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall
North Carolina
LEAF Festival-Black Mountain
Oregon
Oregon Shakespeare Festival - Ashland
Alberta Rose Theater - Portland
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Tennessee
Sewanee: The University of the South - Sewanee
Tennessee Tech University - Cookeville
Texas
Austin JCC–Austin
Cathedral of San Fernando-San Antonio
Washington
Bumbershoot Festival–Seattle
Washington D.C. Area
Blackrock Center for the Performing Arts–Germantown, MD
The Strathmore Mansion–North Bethesda, MD