Miss. Karen L. Ferry

Karen Lela Ferry, 23, began her violin studies at age 3 with Deborah Moench of Salt Lake City, and currently studies with Stephen Rose and Kimberly Meier-Sims at the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) as a Violin Performance and Suzuki Pedagogy Master of Music student. Prior to her CIM undergraduate studies with Jan Sloman and Stephen Rose, Karen studied for four years with Ralph Matson, former concertmaster of the Utah Symphony and ten years at the Gifted Music School Conservatory.

As a student at CIM, Karen has served as Student Body President, as Board of Trustees member, as well as on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) committee. She has also been selected to participate in the Intensive Duo Program and Advanced String Quartet Program consecutively and performs regularly in competitive chamber masterclasses. Last spring, she toured with her quartet, “The Argo Quartet” in Florida bringing exuberant music to audiences young and old.

Karen made her solo orchestral debut at age 7 with the Utah Philharmonic and in September 2014, she was a featured soloist with the Utah Symphony on its “Salute to Youth” concert, performing Saint-Saens’ Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso. Since then, Karen soloed with the Utah Symphony three times on its 2017-2018 season, once as the “All Star Evening” competition winner playing Dvorak’s Violin Concerto and other two as a paid guest artist.

Karen has been coached by Jamie Laredo, Ilya Kaler, Paul Kantor, Mihaela Martin, Ani Kavafian, Arnold Steinhardt, Wei He, Ara Gregorian, Jeffery Irvine, Henryk Kowalski, Olga Dubossarskaya Kaler, Wei He, Stefan Jackiw, Joseph Silverstein, Axel Strauss, Joela Jones, Robert Lipsett, Si-Yan Darren Li, Laurie Smukler, Jinjoo Cho, Nancy Zhou, Grigory Kalinovsky, Monte Belknap, Rei Hotoda, Sel Kardan, Craig Jessop, Barlow Brandford, Vladimir Kulenovic, Kathryn Eberle, and members of the Juilliard, Borromeo, Orion, Ebene, Dover, Jupiter, Cavani, and Miro String Quartets.

As a full-scholarship and charter student of the Gifted Music School Conservatory (GMS), Karen has performed with world-renowned artists and pedagogues such as Roberto Diaz, Jenny Oaks Baker, Leon Fleisher, Andres Cardenes, Joseph Silverstein, and Bill McLauglin. Karen was featured with the GMS orchestra on Christopher O’Riley’s nationally acclaimed NPR program, “From the Top” and on KBYU’s Route 89 classical music program. With the orchestra, she also helped raise $40,000 for the Children’s Justice Center by performing on its “Sounds for Hope” benefit concert.

In addition, Karen has spent summers attending “Vivace!” Music Foundation, Online Summer String Academy (OSSI), ENCORE Chamber Music Festival twice, as well as the Indiana Summer String Academy.

Karen is the grand prize winner of the Utah Symphony’s “All-Star Evening” Competition and was a Semi-Finalist and 3rdprize winner in the Stradivarius International Violin Competition Utah Division. She is also a three-division winner of the Utah Symphony Youth Guild competition, 1st place winner of the ASTA Stringfest at Weber State University, and 1st place winner of the UMTA Concerto Competition Jr. High and Elementary Divisions. In January 2015, Karen was awarded honorable mention in the MTNA Performance Competition, Southwest Junior Strings Division in Santa Barbara, having won 1st place in the MTNA Junior Strings Division for Utah. In addition, Karen has received numerous superior ratings on violin and piano from the National Federation of Music Clubs and the Utah High School Activities Association.

In her youth, Karen participated in the Intermountain Suzuki String Institute and Advanced String Camp for several years where members of the Fry Street Quartet of Utah State University coached her. Karen was also a six-year member of the Rocky Mountain Strings, a group of 45 young violinists from along the Wasatch front with whom she concertized with in Belgium and France.

Karen is the youngest of seven siblings all of whom are pursuing music on a collegiate or professional level. Together they have been featured on concerts in the Box Elder County Tabernacle, the Salt Lake City Recital Hall, The LDS Assembly Hall, the BYU Concert Series, and at numerous charity, community and political events. In addition to music, she also enjoys running, singing, tap dancing, doing yoga, and visiting her home in Corinne, Utah on her family-owned and operated farm and cattle ranch.