Karen Mari - TromboneKaren Mari picked up a trombone and never looked back.
She's halfway through her bachelors of music education at Indiana University where she studies with Peter Ellefson and plays with the Symphony Orchestra, Trombone Choir, and the Leaves of Brass Quintet. Karen is into listening, experimenting, and doing weird things. In 2013 she was part of the world premiere of Chappell Kingsland's new opera "Intoxication", and she recently presented a recital of German-language lieder in the heart of Vienna. She played with a show called Abraham Lincoln's Big Gay Dance Party, for which she helped create original music, and has an eternal soft spot for absurd compositions. Karen's first love will always be tenor trombone, but she also plays bass trombone and euphonium. Playing multiple instruments has led her to explore a wide range of ensemble settings and styles, including orchestral, jazz, theatrical, chamber, and solo playing. She has performed in venues from living rooms and black box theaters to a 17th century Viennese palace and Chicago's own Orchestra Hall, with groups ranging in size from 1 to over 300. Though she is an active performer, Karen's true passion is teaching young trombone and euphonium players. She teaches privately and has conducted low brass workshops in grade schools around Bloomington, Indiana. Karen was an avid vocalist in a past life, and her experiences with choral approaches to music have dramatically impacted her performing and teaching ideologies. She also spent a semester studying in Vienna, Austria, which opened her playing up to a whole range of European influences. Karen blends this vocality and Viennese instruction into a style of trombone playing that, when combined with experience and a hearty midwestern education, is both adaptive and engaging. She enjoys exploring vocal music, and has performed her own trombone adaptations of art songs, arias, and lieder. In the rare moments when Karen is not pursuing some musical end, she can be found cooking outlandish meals, religiously listening to NPR, and fighting with technology. Visit Karen's website at karenmari.org |