Karen Knecht

Karen Knecht received her early musical training at the Juilliard School of Music. She went on to earn a Bachelor's degree in Music and English Literature from Indiana University where she studied with Sidney Foster and the great concert pianist Abbey Simon. She also holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Piano Performance from the State University of N.Y. at Buffalo where she worked with Frina Arshanska Boldt.

In addition to her many solo and duo piano concerts at Chapman University where she has been a faculty member for over 25 years, Ms. Knecht has performed at the Lincoln Center Library and Museum and Merkin Concert Hall in N.Y.C. where she premiered the Fantasy for Piano by Kennedy Center Friedham award-winning composer Emma Lou Diemer. Her CD entitled American Vintage Classics with Los Angeles Philharmonic violinist Mischa Lefkowitz is available on iTunes.

Her students have gone on to attend some of the nation’s finest conservatories and international festivals and include an LA Drama Critics Circle best composer nominee and current college and university piano faculty members.