Karen is violin and viola instructor at Drexel University. She attended Carnegie-Mellon University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the New School of Music, where she studied with Jascha Brodsky. She also studied with Sally Thomas at the Meadowmount School for Strings, and had additional chamber music studies with Charles Castleman at the Quartet Program.
Karen is currently a member of the orchestras of the Pennsylvania Ballet, the Opera Company of Philadelphia, the Key West Symphony and the Philly Pops. She toured with the NYC Opera, National Company, and is also currently a regular substitute for Broadway musicals. She is a founding member and first violinist of the Rittenhouse String Quartet, and spends her summers playing with the Lake George Opera Company in Saratoga Springs, NY and the Endless Mountain Music Festival in Wellsboro, PA.
Committed to the education of the underprivileged, Karen has worked for the Institute for Arts in Education (trained by the Lincoln Center Teaching Artists) as well as the PA Arts in Education Partnership. These residencies in the city schools of Philadelphia provide music education to students who attend schools that no longer offer general music
In addition to classical performing, Karen has enjoyed performing with headlining stars like Bob Hope, Tony Bennett, Vic Damone, Dionne Warwick, Burt Bacharach and Bernadette Peters, to name a few. She has performed with the Trans Siberian Orchestra, and on Broadway has played in the pits for Secret Garden, Tommy, Ragtime, Boy from Oz, and West Side Story.