After having sung in all of the school choirs since 5th grade, Karen started playing trumpet in high school, soon adding marching band, concert band, orchestra, and in the pit orchestras for shows to her activities. Show orchestras were particularly suited to her fondness for hamming it up, and she has played in over 50 different musicals to date.
Karen graduated from Boston University with a degree in trumpet performance, where she studied with Peter Chapman, Tim Morrison and Roger Voisin. After graduating, she was one of four trumpet players selected nationwide by Aldolph Herseth to play in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the training orchestra of the Chicago Symphony. After that year, performing under world renowned guest conductors such as Leonard Slatkin, and being coached by Mr. Herseth, she returned to Boston and has been a freelance musician ever since.
Most recently, she has been the principal trumpet player in the New Philharmonia Orchestra in Newton, the Mercury Orchestra in Cambridge, and the Mood Swings Orchestra (a big band) also in Newton.