Karen Marie Marmer
violin & viola/codirector

KAREN MARIE MARMER studied violin at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College with Israel Chorberg and Ruth Waterman and at the Yale School of Music with Syoko Aki. Her baroque violin studies were with Jaap Schroeder at Yale, Marilyn MacDonald at the Baroque Performance Institute at Oberlin and with Lucy van Dael at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.

Praised for her playing as “subtle and supple” (Cleveland Plain Dealer) and as posessing “great temperament and color”(St. Paul Pioneer Press), her international career has included collaborations with Capriccio Stravagante (Paris), the Nederlandse Bach Vereniging (The Netherlands), Ensemble Baroque de Mateus (Portugal), the Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra (Washington, D.C.), Les Idees Heureuses (Montréal), the American Bach Soloists, the New York Collegium and the Stuttgart Baroque Orchestra, of which she served as co-concertmaster from 1991-96. She has performed under the batons of Ton Koopman, Frans Brüggen, William Christie, Philippe Herreweghe, Reinhard Goebel, Frieder Bernius and Gustav Leonhardt, and has concertized throughout Europe with Marie Leonhardt.

A co-founder of REBEL, Ms. Marmer concertizes extensively in Europe and North America, and has recorded for most major European radio stations as well as National Public Radio in the U.S. She has been heard at early music festivals in Boston, Berkeley, Utrecht, Bruges, Halle, Regensburg, Herne, Stuttgart, Vienna and Ambronay (France). Her recording credits include Vox Classics, PGM, Chesky, Koch International, ATMA Classique, Hänssler Classics, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Bridge Records and Dorian Recordings.

While at Yale, Ms.Marmer was the artistic director and producer of an innovative series of chamber music concerts which brought together students from the undergraduate, graduate and alumni sectors. In the year 2000, Ms. Marmer founded the Westchester, New York-based chamber music series, MUSICA ANTIQUA NOVA, of which she has been producer since its inception. In addition to her duties as REBEL’s manager and publicist, as a passionate cultural advocate she has served on the adjudicating panels of the Westchester Arts Council and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Alongside music, Ms. Marmer’s interests include environmental and historic preservation, the diverse spiritual traditions of the world and mysticism with a special focus on the Kabbalah. Trained in several modalities, Ms. Marmer is a practitioner of the healing arts.