Composer Karen Siegel draws on her experience as a vocalist in her creation of innovative choral and vocal works. She is the winner of the 2014-2015 POLYPHONOS Choral Composition Competition, in the National Composer category. This prize is awarded by the Esoterics vocal ensemble, and resulted in the commission and premiere of Clouds, Ephemeral by the ensemble in Seattle. She is also a winner of the Khorikos ensemble’s 2015 ORTUS competition. Karen was awarded first prize in the New York Virtuoso Singers 2013 Choral Composition Competition for her humorous a capella choral work from 2006, Confessions from the Blogosphere, which sets excerpts from online blogs. Sponge Squeezed Dry, her 2008 piece for mixed chorus and horn that sets an original text, was awarded the 2009 Starer Award for Composition at the City University of New York Graduate Center. In June 2008 Karen was a winner of the Manhattan Choral Ensemble Commissioning Project Competition, which resulted in the work Saguaro, inspired by the desert landscape and history of Tucson, Arizona. Saguaro was recorded by C4: the Choral Composer/Conductor Collective (of which Karen is a founding member), and was released on the album Volume 1: Uncaged in 2013.
Karen is also active as a conductor and as a soprano, often performing her own works. She received a PhD in composition from the CUNY Graduate Center, where she studied with Tania León. Karen also holds degrees from Yale (BA in psychology) and NYU Steinhardt (MM in composition), where she studied with Marc-Antonio Consoli. Karen has been on the faculty at Drew University and the City College of New York. Her works that are not published by See-A-Dot are self-published through Chestnutoak Press (www.KarenSiegel.com). Karen lives in Hoboken, New Jersey with her husband and two sons.
