Karen Martin grew up in Grand Junction, Colorado, attending the Aspen Music Festival, and the Colorado Philharmonic (now the National Repertory Orchestra) during the summers, as well as the Meadowmount School in upstate New York.

She received her education at the University of Denver, continuing at the Mannes College of Music in New York City where she received a Bachelors of Music degree, with further studies at Western Illinois University for Suzuki teacher training. Her teachers have included Shirley Givens, David Cerone, Patti Kopec, James Maurer, Lee Foli, and Oscar Chassow, as well as Nancy Jackson for Suzuki training.

Karen’s professional musical life has included the Oklahoma Symphony, the Chamber Orchestra of Oklahoma City, the Omaha Symphony and Chamber Orchestra, the Lincoln (Nebraska) Symphony, and the Nebraska Chamber Orchestra, the Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) Opera Orchestra, the Breckenridge (Colorado) Music Institute, and the Eastern Music Festival in North Carolina. Since moving to Macomb in 1996, she has performed regularly with the Quad Cities Symphony, the Illinois Symphony, Quincy Symphony Orchestra, Peoria Symphony, Southeast Iowa Symphony, and the Knox Galesburg Symphony.

Karen, as a Suzuki and traditional teacher, enjoys the time spent with her many wonderful students in the Macomb area, as well as working with a string ensemble of youngsters through the Community Music School at Western Illinois University. When not involved in musical pursuits, Karen enjoys working with clay in the pottery studio.