Karen Hall has been involved in music from the age of four, when she began piano studies. Cello became her primary instrument, and she graduated with high honors from the University of Illinois. She received her master’s degree from Texas Christian University, where she was already a member of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra cello section. During her forty-one years in Texas, she also performed with the Dallas Opera Orchestra and the Dallas, Houston, and Hawaii Symphonies. An avid proponent of historical performance, she was a founding member of Texas Camerata, performing on the baroque cello and the viola da gamba. She performed with these organizations in Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Paris, France (and Paris, Texas!), and numerous other cities in the U.S and Mexico.
Some of Karen’s most memorable and rewarding experiences come from performances of chamber music with her husband Kevin, a bassoonist. They formed the Hall Ensemble, which presented a series of house and small-venue concerts that appeared three times on the “Top Ten” classical music concerts of the year in Dallas-Fort Worth in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Karen and Kevin played chamber music for two raft trips through the Grand Canyon as well as several programs at Camp Denali, a wilderness resort in Denali National Park.
With The Cliburn, Karen served as a host for their elementary school education programs and has given pre-concert lectures for the Fort Worth Symphony and Kauai Concert Association. She is proud of a concert review that highlighted her “golly gee whiz attitude” and always hopes to share her excitement about music with other patrons.
After being frequent visitors to Kauai, Karen counts as one of her accomplishments moving to the island with Kevin and their two cats in June of 2020, at the height of COVID. Since then, she has enjoyed part-time retail work and volunteers as a Director on the Kauai Concert Association Board, as well as on her HOA board. She continues to perform as a cellist and enjoys singing with the Kauai Chorale.