"Karen R. Clark has a beautiful voice that shows flexibility and nuance. Her performance is gorgeous."
American Record Guide
Contralto Karen R. Clark’s performances of medieval to modern music have been heard worldwide. In early music, Karen has performed and recorded with eminent ensembles such as Boston Camerata, Sequentia, Waverly Consort, and Joshua Rifkin’s Bach Ensemble. Karen is founder and director of the professional women’s vocal ensemble Vajra Voices, whose new CD, O Eterne Deus: Music of Hildegard von Bingen, is receiving international acclaim. In new music, Clark has premiered works by leading composers, including Joseph Schwantner, Ben Johnston, Fred Frith and Roy Whelden. Her recording with the Galax Quartet “On Cold Mountain: Songs on Poems of Gary Snyder” prompted music critic Joshua Kosman to write: “It’s mesmerizing in its unplaceable timelessness. Clark’s majestic, throaty singing hints of modernist extravagance and medieval troubadours.” (San Francisco Chronicle) Karen holds degrees from the Indiana University School of Music where she studied with Virginia Zeani and Thomas Binkley. A devoted singing and Feldenkrais teacher, Karen has taught at Princeton University, Sonoma State University, the Thornton School of Music at University of Southern California, and UC Berkeley.
Karen's California debut came in 1990 with her performance in a reconstructed medieval Passion in the first Berkeley Early Music Festival. Her portrayal of the anguished Maria Mater brought accolades from The New York Times, "The most striking performance was with Karen Clark. With minimal vibrato and malleable tone, Ms. Clark showed an astonishing range of expressive subtlety, carrying the listener rapt." Soon after, Karen relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area where she performed with many Bay Area music organizations and, in 2012 founded the women's ensemble, Vajra Voices. Karen has provided vocals for several Garrett Moulton Dance Productions (Speak, Angels; and Luminous Edge), and with Vajra Voices Karen has produced and directed several projects, such as, Eve of the March — with Kitka, Shira Kammen, and Theresa Wong— in Grace Cathedral. Vajra Voices recording, O Eterne Deus: Music of Hildegard von Bingen is called "Lovely, thoughtful, and inspiring, and the most convincing Hildegard disc I’ve yet heard from the USA." (Choir & Organ Magazine).
In new music, Karen Clark has premiered and recorded several works for contralto and the baroque version of the string quartet with The Galax Quartet. The wide breadth of their repertory includes song cycles on poems of the Pulitzer Poet Gary Snyder by composers Fred Frith (For Nothing), Robert Greenlee (Geese Gone Beyond), W.A. Mathieu (For All), Robert Morris (This Bubble of a Heart), Ka Nin Chan (Journeys), and Roy Whelden (Han Shan Songs). The Galax Quartet and Karen Clark have also commissioned and premiered works by David Aaron Jaffee (Eight O's in Wooloomooloo-- on a text of Mark Twain); and, most recently the Pulitzer and Grammy-Award winning composer, Joseph Schwantner's Dream Drapery— Songs on Thoreau.
Karen's California debut came in 1990 with her performance in a reconstructed medieval Passion in the first Berkeley Early Music Festival. Her portrayal of the anguished Maria Mater brought accolades from The New York Times, "The most striking performance was with Karen Clark. With minimal vibrato and malleable tone, Ms. Clark showed an astonishing range of expressive subtlety, carrying the listener rapt." Soon after, Karen relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area where she performed with many Bay Area music organizations and, in 2012 founded the women's ensemble, Vajra Voices. Karen has provided vocals for several Garrett Moulton Dance Productions (Speak, Angels; and Luminous Edge), and with Vajra Voices Karen has produced and directed several projects, such as, Eve of the March — with Kitka, Shira Kammen, and Theresa Wong— in Grace Cathedral. Vajra Voices recording, O Eterne Deus: Music of Hildegard von Bingen is called "Lovely, thoughtful, and inspiring, and the most convincing Hildegard disc I’ve yet heard from the USA." (Choir & Organ Magazine).
In new music, Karen Clark has premiered and recorded several works for contralto and the baroque version of the string quartet with The Galax Quartet. The wide breadth of their repertory includes song cycles on poems of the Pulitzer Poet Gary Snyder by composers Fred Frith (For Nothing), Robert Greenlee (Geese Gone Beyond), W.A. Mathieu (For All), Robert Morris (This Bubble of a Heart), Ka Nin Chan (Journeys), and Roy Whelden (Han Shan Songs). The Galax Quartet and Karen Clark have also commissioned and premiered works by David Aaron Jaffee (Eight O's in Wooloomooloo-- on a text of Mark Twain); and, most recently the Pulitzer and Grammy-Award winning composer, Joseph Schwantner's Dream Drapery— Songs on Thoreau.
Reviews
| karen_r._clark_reviews.pdf |
Accolades for Vajra Voices
Vajra Voices,
Photography by Norbert Brein-K