Program Director

Chris K. Tenney is a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist who began his musical training by performing and touring nationally and internationally with The Tucson Boy's Chorus at the early age of 8. After dedicating his secondary and post-secondary training to music, he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education and was selected as the University of Arizona School of Music’s Outstanding Senior. He later pursued and received Highest Honors in his graduate studies, earning a Master’s Degree, also in Music Education, from Boston University, where he is currently a Doctoral Candidate in the Doctor of Musical Arts in Music Educationprogram.

Chris serves as the Faculty Program Director for the Performing Arts at Yavapai College in Prescott, Arizona. As part of his position, he serves as a mentor to music degree–seeking students, teaches music theory courses, and directs the Jazz Combo, the Roughriders Big Band, and the Symphonic Band. He also runs the school’s double bass studio, providing private instruction to bass students throughout Yavapai County. His role includes extensive outreach and recruiting, and his student-led jazz combo performs for hundreds of high school students each year. As a conductor, he has worked with the college’s musical theatre department to conduct the pit orchestra for several large-scale musicals, including Chicago (2022), Singing in the Rain (2023),Anastasia (2024), and Fiddler on the Roof (2025).

Prior to his appointment at YC, he spent five years as the Director of Bands at Bradshaw Mountain High School in Prescott Valley, receiving multiple Excellent and Superior ratings for his ensembles. He has served as a chairperson, site host, and clinician for the Arizona Band and Orchestra Directors Association (ABODA), as well as a clinician for the Northern Arizona Band, Choir, and Orchestra Festival (NABCOF).

Outside of the college, Chris is the cofounder and Vice President of the Yavapai Jazz Institute, a nonprofit organization committed to providing low-cost jazz instruction for youth. He also has a background in musical theatre and served as Musical Director for several productions at Suze’s Prescott Center for the Arts, where he was a founding member of the Teen Summer Stock Ensemble Program. He also spent many years as the PCA Scholarship Program’s Musical Theatre Chairperson and as the adjudicator for the Winds, Brass, and Percussion section of the program.

In his spare time, he plays trombone and performs locally in the High Desert Brass, a brass quintet he co-founded in 2018, and with the King Copper Jazz Band, a trad-jazz combo based in Prescott. When not teaching or performing, Professor Tenney enjoys participating in triathlons and spending time with his lovely wife and fellow arts educator Layla, along with their three beautiful children.