Artist description Karen Bentley is active in Seattle and the San Francisco Bay Area as a violinist, violist, conductor and pianist.

Music Style Classical, worldfolk, classic rock, free improvisation

Musical Influences Bach, Bartok, Gerswin, afrocuban, latin, Irish folkmusic, worldmusic

Artist History Karen has concertized throughout Europe, Asia, the United States, Canada and Russia where she performed Vivaldi's Four Seasons and the Beethoven Violin Concerto. She is the violinist in the progressive rock band Tesseract and has several recordings of original music including Electric Diamond, Weeping Angel, Konzerto and Succubus by Stuart Diamond, and Ariel View, featuring violin and piano duets which she wrote and recorded with Los Angeles pianist/composer Bruce Hanifan. A champion of contemporary music, she has premiered numerous compositions for violin and piano, solo violin, and violin withelectronics. Ms. Bentley has toured with Mikhail Baryshnikov's White Oak Dance Project, Barbra Streisand's 1994 concert tour, the New York Philharmonic and the Bolshoi Ballet. She attended Indiana University where she studied with Josef Gingold and Yuval Yaron. Other teachers include Camilla Wicks, Nathan Milstein, Glenn Dicterow and Jean JacquesKantorow. She has served as concertmaster of the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie Kammerorchester as well as the New York String Orchestra under AlexanderSchneider. She is currently Associate Concertmaster of the Monterey County Symphony and conductor of the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra Preparatory Orchestra. Karen premiered Dance Suite for soloviolin by Ole saxe in dec 2000 and the orchestal version with Redwood Symphony Orchestra directed by Eric Kujawsky in april 2002.

Instruments Violin, viola, hardangerfele

Albums Ariel Veiw, Conzerto and Subuccus by Diamond, Dancing Suite to Suite by Saxe

Press Reviews "The sheer tonal beauty of her violin playing, her clarity, her phrasing, her ability to give each movement a special quality of its own captivates. Surely, this work should soon be part of every violinistīs repertoire" Hans-Theodor Wohlfahrt -Musical web. "Musically, the most riveting moment of the evening came in the Largo of a Leclair Sonata in A for flute and violin, with its sinuously, sensuausly intertwining lines. karen Bentley was the fine violinist." The New York Times. "Bentley was more than a match for the musicīs volatility, continually transforming her tone with sudden shifts of mood and temper." East Bay Express. "....the absolute precision, intonation, beauty and depth of feeling of Karen Bentleyīs rendition of Mozartīs violin Concerto # 5 in A Major was flawlwss. I donīt believe Mozart would have wished it otherwise." Peninsula Times Tribune

Location Seattle, Wasington - USA

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