Kris Bergstrom

Bergstrom is well regarded as an instructor in the North American taiko community. His work as a taiko teacher can be seen through On Ensemble's educational outreach. As a taiko instructor, he has written a study aid to taiko practice called "30 Days to Better Shime". At the 2009 Taiko Conference, he released Taiko Games 2009, a series of games he created about taiko.

Bergstrom received his natori for shamisen on November 8, 2008. He was one of few musicians in the United States honored with a natori. His natori is Kineya Katsukoujyu. Bergstrom continues to study with Katsuyukie, as a natori does not signify an end to studying under a teacher.

In August 2001, Bergstrom, Shoji Kameda, and Masato Baba performed in Japan, bringing together three-fourths of On Ensemble before the inclusion of Kelvin Underwood.

Kris Bergstrom has trained with various groups throughout his career in kumidaiko. He began his study through joining Stanford Taiko in college. While in Japan, he studied for a time under Kobayashi Tarou, a student of an original member of Oedo Sukeroku Taiko. In addition, he took lessons at the Nihon Taiko Dojo from 2001-2.

Recalling hearing about Japanese music styles of nagauta, gagaku, and noh as a kid, Bergstrom looked to study shamisen as something more traditionally Japanese than taiko. In order to learn the shamisen, Bergstrom searched for a teacher in the Hakodate phonebook in spring of 2000. He found Kineya Katsuyukie from the Kineya school of nagauta shamisen. In the first meeting between Katsuyukie, Bergstrom said he wanted to better understand the concept of "ma" in Japanese music. While studying Bergstrom developed a close relationship with Katsuyukie similar to that of the traditional uchi-deshi apprenticeship system for Japanese arts. While he did not live with her, he performed chores and took lessons in the early morning before and after work.

After graduating Stanford in 1999, Bergstrom spent time in Japan to study Japanese in order to learn more Japanese arts. His intention was to learn music more traditional than kumidaiko. When he first arrived in Japan, he visited Sado Island to see the taiko group Kodo for their earth day celebration. He then went to Hakodate, Hokkaido, where he would live for the next two years before moving to Tokyo for a year.

During the summer of 1998, Bergstrom interned for San Jose Taiko with Kameda as one of San Jose Taiko's first summer interns. Over this internship period, a discussion between Bergstrom and Kameda entertained the idea of creating a taiko group, which are the roots for On Ensemble. In order to pursue professional taiko, he dropped Physics from his course of study and began concentrating more on music. He continued to major in English as it seemed relevant to musical composition. He graduated Stanford with a degree in English in 1999.

Kristofer Bergstrom was born July 12, 1976 in Littleton, Colorado to Jon and Diane Bergstrom. He has a sister named Nicole. When he was growing up, his family moved around, and Kris lived in Texas and Louisiana before moving to California in 1985. Kris is a vegan and an avid skateboarder.