Krystal Banfield

Krystal Banfield

Krystal Banfield, Ph.D. has been appointed Dean of Berklee City Music.  In this role, she becomes the first African American female on the college’s executive leadership team.

Banfield previously served as senior director for the department. She is now the chief academic officer and operational leader for City Music programs in Boston and at 38 Berklee City Network sites across the United States.

Banfield came to Berklee in 2006. Prior to that, she served as Director of Education for the American Composers Forum. She also served as an adjunct voice professor and music lecturer at University of St. Thomas, and taught voice at the Saint Paul Conservatory of Music.

Banfield has performed as a soloist and chorister in such venues as the Kennedy Center, in Washington, D.C., Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, and the Five Flags Center in Dubuque, Iowa.  

She holds a Bachelor of Music Education from Howard University, a Masters of Music from Indiana University-Bloomington, and a Doctorate in Education from the University of St. Thomas-Minneapolis.

She now serves as a board member at-large for Orchard Gardens K-8 Boston Pilot School, and on the board for the Boston Children’s Chorus.