Born in Winnipeg in 1975, Karen has been studying music since she was four. She finished her B.Mus. in Composition and Cello at the University of Manitoba in 2000 and completed her M.A. in Music Composition at San Francisco State University in 2003. Karen is currently working on her Ph.D. in composition and theory at the University of alifornia, Davis. Her composition teachers include Carlos Sanchez-Gutierez, Ron Caltabiano, Michael Matthews and Pablo Ortiz. She has studied cello with Julie Banton, Paul Marleyn and Tom Wiebe, and she currently studies with Irene Sharp. Karen has had pieces performed by the Left Coast Ensemble in San Francisco, Agassiz Chamber Players in Winnipeg and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (reading session) conducted by Maestro Bramwell Tovey. Recently she took a course through the University of California at CNMAT (Center for New Music and Audio Technology) with Edmund Campion. The piece she composed in this course was performed at a CNMAT concert and at the Electric Rainbow Coalition, an electronic music festival at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. When Karen was 12 she performed a concerto with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. Recently her performance experience includes: playing cello with the Pro Art Symphony and the California Music Festival in the San Francisco Bay area, singing with the University of Manitoba Singers at Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra's New Music Festival and playing percussion with GroundSwell and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. Karen's commitment to youth led her to found a Summer Arts Camp in Winnipeg for teens and children in July 2000; she served as the director for three years. An avid canoeist, she has led and directed many canoeing trips and finds much of her inspiration from the outdoors.