Karen Hogle Brown, soprano SAG/AFTRA/AGMA
Karen Hogle Brown's strong musicianship and flexible voice have helped her to champion and premiere new works, as well as to reinvent traditional ones.
An active soloist in the Los Angeles area, Karen’s unique artistry has helped draw much attention to new and rarely-performed works. As a winner of the Beverly Hills Recital Series, Karen premiered a song cycle by Shawn Kirchner based on the poetry of Pablo Neruda, which was performed again in June 2011 at Walt Disney Concert Hall for Grant Gershon’s prestigious Maestro Dinner. She also collaborated with pianist Lisa Edwards in 2007 to self produce an American art song recital featuring works by Copland, Hoiby, Bolcom, Rorem, and local composer JAC Redford.
Karen has appeared as featured soloist in modern works such as the Schnittke Symphony No. 4 with the LA Phil's Green Umbrella series and with the Jacaranda Music Festival on works such as Avro Pärt’s Magnificat and Liszt’s Via Crucis. She has also performed several early music solos including Bach’s Magnificat with the Pacific Academy of Ecclesiastical Music (PACEM), Vivaldi's Gloria with The Occidental Symphonia, the Messiah in Walt Disney Concert Hall for a Messiah Singalong produced by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri with Pasadena Pro Musica. Equally at home on the operatic stage, roles include Madame Herz (The Impressario), Clorinda (La Cenerentola), Marfa (The Tsar’s Bride), The Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte), Mabel (The Pirates of Penzance), the title role in La Perichole, and Corinna from Monteverdi’s Sestina as part of Long Beach Opera’s 7 Small Operas, and roles in two new operas - Sybilla (The Spell of Tradition) and Jessica (The Tree) by Peter Wing Healey.
A great proponent of music education, Karen is heavily involved with the LA Opera’s Education and Community Programs and has performed several roles for their outreach productions such as The Marriage of Figueroa, The Letter, and Friday Night at Hodges’ Café. She also conducts their annual opera camp. In addition to her live performances, Karen is an accomplished recording artist. She received a Grammy Award in 2007 for the Best Small Ensemble Performance with the Los Angeles Chamber Singers and has been featured as a soloist on soundtracks for the movies Avatar and 9/Tenths, and recently the several last seasons The 100. She can also be heard on Linda Ronstadt’s album A Merry Little Christmas, Los Angeles Master Chorale's recording of Nico Muhly's A Good Understanding, and most recently, as a featured soloist for a collection of cinematic chamber music by John Williams.
Karen holds a Bachelor of Music degree (Summa Cum Laude) in Music Education and a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Arizona, as well as training in OperaWorks' Advanced Artist Program. She currently resides in Los Angeles where she regularly performs and teaches for the LA Opera Outreach Department and the Music Center of Los Angeles' Active Arts, and is on voice faculty at Occidental College, in addition to maintaining a private vocal studio.