Karen Ouzounian
Described as “radiant” and “expressive” (The New York Times) and “nothing less than gorgeous” (Memphis Commercial Appeal), cellist Karen Ouzounian approaches music-making with a deeply communicative and passionate spirit. Winner of the S&R Foundation's 2016 Washington Award and at home in diverse musical settings, she is drawn towards unusual collaborations and eclectic contemporary repertoire.
At the heart of Karen’s artistic practice is her love of the collaborative process and the development of adventurous new works. Karen’s current and recent projects include the premieres of Lembit Beecher’s cello concerto Tell Me Again with Eric Jacobsen and the Orlando Philharmonic, and Anna Clyne’s Shorthand for solo cello and string quintet with The Knights, in addition to collaborations with visual artists Kevork Mourad and Nomi Sasaki, theater director Joanna Settle, and instrumentalist-composers Kinan Azmeh, Haruka Fujii and Kayhan Kalhor. In February 2021 her evening-length video work In Motion, an exploration of heritage, family history and migration through interviews, her compositions, and collaborations with various artists, was presented by BroadBand.
Her passion for chamber music led Karen to become a founding member of the Aizuri Quartet, which was awarded the Grand Prize at the 2018 M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition and First Prize at the 2017 Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in Japan, and was the String Quartet-in-Residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for its 2017-18 season. Its debut album Blueprinting, a collection of works written for the Quartet, was released by New Amsterdam Records and nominated for a 2019 GRAMMY Award. In addition to her work with the Aizuri Quartet, Karen performs around the globe with the Silkroad Ensemble, the Grammy award-winning group founded by cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 2000 that engages cross-cultural collaboration and understanding, and the Brooklyn-based chamber collective The Knights.
Born to Armenian parents in Toronto, Karen holds Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees from The Juilliard School, where she was a student of Timothy Eddy. She resides in New York City with her husband, composer Lembit Beecher.
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