“Kiki Ebsen is a consummate performer at the keyboard and as a guest vocalist. With a symphony orchestra, singing pop standards, or the catalog of Ella Fitzgerald to Joni Mitchell, a great artist ”
— Larry Blank ~ Resident Pops Conductor, Pasadena Symphony
As a child of five, Kiki Ebsen fell in love with classical music, as she attended her first symphony performances by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Watching great conductors at work, spending summer evenings at the Hollywood Bowl, and hearing grand recordings of the masters playing throughout her childhood home predetermined her future career path in the arts.
It was no surprise that she chose California Institute of the Arts for her secondary education, where she earned her BFA degree in Vocal Performance. In college, Kiki appeared as Barbarina in “The Marriage of Figaro,” backed by the California Institute of Arts Orchestra. In her senior year, she also won the title of (National) Collegiate Entertainer of the Year, an award which included a substantial donation to benefit her college’s Music Department, which is today known as The Herb Alpert School of Music at California Institute of the Arts.
Upon graduation, Kiki toured with numerous Grammy-winning rock musicians. From those tours, she was featured in several concerts with Christopher Cross performing with regional symphony orchestras across the United States. For over a decade, Kiki was also a guest musician with The Colin Hay Band (Jacksonville Symphony, Jacksonville, Florida and The Florida Orchestra, St. Petersburg, Florida); and with David Benoit and Michael Paulo (Magenta Symphony Orchestra at the Java Jazz Festival in Jakarta, Indonesia).
Kiki headlined a fund-raising concert in 2015 with the Central Texas Medical Orchestra in Austin, Texas, benefiting the People's Community Clinic of Austin. She returns in September 2017 to perform selections from her “Scarecrow Sessions” CD to benefit the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians.
In June 2017 Kiki debuted with the Pasadena Symphony Orchestra in their annual Music Under the Stars Annual POPS concert, held in Centennial Square, Pasadena, California. Kiki, Valerie Perri and Christina Saffran, the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) Chorus and the Donald Brinegar Singers were led by conductor Larry Blank in an evening of George Gershwin favorites and more Great American Songbook classics to a record-setting audience.
Kiki Ebsen Appearances as Guest Artist or Ensemble Performer Include:
Pasadena Symphony Pops, Pasadena, CA
Central Texas Medical Orchestra, Austin, TX
Fort Bend Symphony Orchestra, Stafford, TX
Nashville Symphony, Nashville, TN
Hawaii Symphony Orchestra (formerly the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra), Honolulu, HI
Indianapolis Symphony, Indianapolis, IN
Jacksonville Symphony, Jacksonville, FL
The Florida Orchestra, St. Petersburg, FL