Karen Kuenzi

Staff Accompanist

Phone: 253.879.3700
E-mail

Karen Kuenzi is recognized as one of the finest piano accompanists in this country. She has appeared on the majority of stages in the western United States and Canada including The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of Los Angeles and Orchestra Hall of Minneapolis. In addition, Ms. Kuenzi has appeared in opera, choral and instrumental productions in such cities as San  Francisco, Denver, Salt Lake City, San Jose, Oakland, Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee and Pittsburg. In 1994, Ms. Kuenzi was the accompianist for the National Invitational Choral Festival which was held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. She has also performed at Radio City Musical Hall and, in March of 1998, Ms. Kuenzi returned to New York for a performance at the Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall as part of The New York International Music Festival.

Paul Saulamunovich, conductor of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, has referred to Karen Kuenzi as one of the top three accompanists he has ever worked with. Her sensitivity and musicality as an ensemble accompanist is unmatched, according to the last Dr. Maurice Skones, head of the graduate conducting program at the University of Arizona.

As a vocal Coach and accompanist for the professional choir Gloriana, Ms. Kuenzi was directly responsible for the choir receiving a Grammy Award Nomination in 1997 for the recording “Songs of America.” In the spring of 2002, with Gloriana, Ms. Kuenzi was the rehearsal and performance accompanist for a recording of the oratorio “Symphony of Tears.” The piece, commissioned by the Armenian government, commemorated the 1915 genocide of the Armenians by the Turks. The recording, which took place at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, also involved the Armenian National Symphony, conducted by Maestro Loris Tcheknavorian.