Karen Hogle Brown

Praised by Mark Swed of the LA Times as “luminous", Karen Hogle Brown is a coloratura soprano whose strong musicianship and flexible voice have helped her to champion and premiere new works, as well as reinvent traditional ones. An active soloist in the Los Angeles area, Hogle Brown’s unique artistry has helped draw much attention to new and rarely-performed works. As a winner of the Beverly Hills Recital Series, Hogle Brown premiered a song cycle by Shawn Kirchner based on the poetry of Pablo Neruda, which was performed again in June 2011 at the Walt Disney Concert Hall for Grant Gershon’s prestigious annual Maestro Dinner. She also collaborated with pianist Lisa Edwards in 2007 to self-produce an American art song recital championing works by Copland, Hoiby, Bolcom, Rorem, and local composer JAC Redford. In addition, Hogle Brown has appeared as featured soloist in several modern works such as the Schnittke Symphony No. 4 with the LA Phil on their Green Umbrella series, and several times 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 such as Bach’s Magnificat with the Pacific Academy of Ecclesiastical Music (PACEM), Handel’s Messiah in the Walt Disney Concert Hall for the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s Messiah Singalong and Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri with Pasadena Pro Musica. Recently, she was a guest soloist for Opera San Luis Obispo annual gala, and Redlands Opera Theatre’s night of Mozart. Equally at home on the operatic stage, roles include most recently Marfa in The Tsar’s Bride, The Queen of the Night, Mabel in the Pirates of Penzance, Perichole in La Perichole, and Corinna from Monteverdi’s Sestina as part of Long Beach Opera’s 7 Small Operas. 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, and conducts their annual opera camp. In addition to her live performances, Karen is an accomplished recording artist. In 2007 she received a Grammy Award 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. 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, is a featured soloist for a collection of John William’s cinematic chamber music. Karen holds a B.M. summa cum laude in Music Education and a M.M. in Vocal Performance from the University of Arizona, completed the OperaWorks Advanced Young Artist training, and currently resides in Los Angeles where she teaches for the LA Opera Outreach Department and her own private vocal studio.