Iris is a trombonist, composer, and singer/songwriter based in Lisbon, Portugal.

She studied music composition under Stephen Dembski and trombone under Mark Hetzler, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she received a Hilldale Fellowship for composition. There, Iris took her raw enthusiasm and molded it into a tool to express herself in a myriad of ways, be it through classical trombone, avante-garde beatboxing, or a wooden kazoo.

After doing an internship with Arts Wisconsin, she moved to Brazil, where she played styles such as funk, jazz, mpb, and choro with various groups. Then, she moved to Chile, where she studied jazz at Escuela de Jazz Superior de Santiago. Now in Portugal, she plays with the dixie/trad jazz group The Invisible Tuba, the salsa band La Tremenda Sonora, and the Carnaval artivism collective Colombina Clandestina (the biggest bloco in Lisbon!). She also works as a freelancer and trombone teacher.

As a composer, some past commissions include “The Tejo River” for the St. Croix Valley Orchestra, “2020” for trombone choir, with twenty-two trombone choirs taking part across the US and Canada, and “Voyage into Iron Clouds” written for the Sliding Panthers Trombone Quartet at Eastern Illinois University.

She also released her first EP as a singer/songwriter in 2023. It can be heard under the name “Iris Coolmonster.”