Biography
Job Title: Head of Leeds Junior Conservatoire
As an educator, Karen has a wealth of experience working with young musicians and guiding them to make the transition into higher education. She believes providing a range of high-quality musical experiences for young people is vital to raising aspirations and supporting musical development.
Partnership and collaborative work are at the heart of Karen's work developing Leeds Junior Conservatoire (LJC), developing partnerships with schools and other organisations involved in music education, and providing relevant joined-up opportunities for young people in a range of genres. She is proud of the wide range of bursaries and scholarships LJC offers for young people to support their musical development.
Since studying Jazz at Leeds Conservatoire, Karen continued her studies at the University of Leeds. She was awarded a distinction for the MMus in composition exploring microtonal soundworlds for low flutes. With a keen interest in technology, she studied for an MSc at the University of Huddersfield in Technology Enhanced Learning. Her research project examined how instrumental teachers can use technology to support teaching and learning.
As a composer, Karen is a former winner of the Yorkshire Composers' Competition and her work has been performed internationally, including performances at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, the Sydney Festival, the Royal College of Music, the USA, and broadcast on Radio 3. She was commissioned by Youth Music to write an ensemble scheme for the so called 'endangered species' group of instruments. Her music is included on the ABRSM woodwind syllabus and is published by Forton Music, and Tetractys Publishing.
