Karen Sinclair

Violinist Karen Sinclair leads an enriching musical life as an active performer. A native of West Chester, Pennsylvania, Karen joined The Phoenix Symphony’s First Violin section in 2008. She spends the summer months as a member of the Grant Park Orchestra in Chicago, where she has been a First Violinist since 2007. An avid chamber musician, Karen is the co-artistic administrator of Urban Nocturnes, a Phoenix-based ensemble made up of six of the area’s finest musicians.

Karen made her solo debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra when she was eleven years old, subsequently returning to solo with the orchestra on two other occasions. Having earned acceptance to the Curtis Institute of Music at age fifteen, she graduated with her Bachelor of Music degree and went on to receive a Diploma of Postgraduate Performance from London’s Royal Academy of Music and a Master of Music degree from Rice University. Her major teachers have included Jascha Brodsky, Yumi Ninomiya Scott, Gyorgy Pauk, Kathleen Winkler and William Preucil.

Before joining The Phoenix Symphony, Karen won top prizes at a number of solo competitions including the International Competition of Padua, Italy, the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition in Switzerland and the Austrian-American Society Competition. She was named the first prizewinner of the MTNA National Competition and the Delaware Contest for Young Musicians and was a finalist in the Houston Symphony’s Ima Hogg Competition.

Karen’s professional orchestral experience includes performances as a substitute with the Philadelphia Orchestra, The Philharmonia Orchestra (London), Houston Symphony, and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Formerly Associate Concertmaster of the Canton Symphony in Ohio, she was featured several times as soloist during her tenure there. During the 2017/18 season, she appeared as a soloist with The Phoenix Symphony conducted by music director Tito Munoz on the orchestra’s Classics Series, performing Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante. Karen plays a late 17th century violin made by Giuseppe ‘filius Andreae’ Guarneri — a rare example of his early work.