"Fresh Produce" collects some of Karen's strongest and most popular chamber and orchestral music -- rhythmic, melody-driven compositions enjoyed by those who don't normally listen to classical music, as well as the critical art music lover.
"Fresh Produce" presents 72-minutes of Karen Amrhein's contemporary orchestral and chamber music, performed by clarinetist Richard Stoltzman; guitarist Oscar Lopez Plaza; the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kirk Trevor; violinist Nicholas Currie; and the Mariner String Quartet. The album includes the ballet "Little Nemo in Slumberland" (inspired by the influential early 20th-Century comic strip by Winsor McCay), the clarinet concerto "Event Horizon," the "Hamilton Street" guitar concerto, "Symphony of Seasons," the violin and piano sonata, and the second string quartet.
The music of composer Karen Amrhein (b. 1970) has been described as "seriously worth investigating for study and public performance.... Succinct in style and scope, it provides the audience a capsulized aroma of mid-twentieth century harmonic idioms as well as some fresh melodic direction.... [and it] leaves the listener wanting more." - The Horn Call
"Karen is very sensitive to melody, and quite insightful as to the harmonic structure that will best support it. What results is both engaging and intriguing, as well as emotionally satisfying, not infrequently witty, and quite often uplifting - all characteristics and affects that seem regrettably rare in the work of more recent times." - Composer Robert Sirota, Director of the Peabody Institute
Her suite of orchestral tone poems that accompany her novel "Avandalyn" drew enthusiastic praise from the musical advisors to the Tolkien estate, who stated that they "regard her work very highly indeed."
Karen is an award-winning member of ASCAP. She has a B.A. in Medieval History from the University of California, San Diego and is an alumna of the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, Maryland, where she studied with Ronald Caltabiano.
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