Karen Ouzounian | Cellist & Composer
About
Sought after for her “radiant” (The New York Times) performances full of “tremendous heart, bringing joy and a captivating sound to the stage” (The Strad), Karen Ouzounian is an acclaimed cellist and composer who creates music from a deeply personal place. She has appeared as a soloist in venues including the Konzerthaus Berlin, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Kölner Philharmonie, Tonhalle Düsseldorf and Carnegie Hall, championing a remarkable breadth of music with fierce commitment and emotional power. An omnivorous musical spirit who “powerfully shatters pigeonholes with her artistic partners” (Ravinia Magazine), she has premiered numerous works and collaborated with some of the most singular musicians of our time, including Rhiannon Giddens, Augustin Hadelich and Kayhan Kalhor. She is a member of the Silkroad Ensemble, has appeared at the Marlboro, Ojai, Caramoor and Ravinia festivals, and was the founding cellist of the Aizuri Quartet for eleven years, earning a GRAMMY nomination, major chamber music prizes on three continents, and serving as the MetLiveArts String Quartet-in-Residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2024 she premiered Dear Mountains, her co-composed work with Lembit Beecher for solo cello, oud, percussion and chorus. Read More.
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MAYRIG
An immersive and intimate program centered on the human voice, Mayrig (“mother” in Armenian) is a 65-minute show created by Karen Ouzounian and Lembit Beecher in which the voices of Karen’s mother and grandmother are interwoven with original arrangements of Armenian music of her family’s ancestral home of Anatolia, songs and stories drawn from their post-genocide home of Lebanon, the music of Charles Aznavour and Marin Marais, and recent works by Beecher, Layale Chaker, Nathalie Joachim, Niloufar Nourbakhsh, and Ouzounian.
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DEAR MOUNTAINS
Dear Mountains is a 42-minute work for SATB chorus, solo cello, oud, and percussion co-composed by Karen Ouzounian and Lembit Beecher. Juxtaposing stories told and retold in Karen Ouzounian’s family with scenes of music-making across the Armenian diaspora over the last 100 years, Dear Mountains brings into the present moment a world of personal stories and wider histories of migration and rebirth. Commissioned by Cantori New York and premiered in New York City in November 2024.
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TELL ME AGAIN
A new cello concerto composed by Lembit Beecher for Karen Ouzounian, Tell Me Again received its world premiere with conductor Eric Jacobsen and the Orlando Philharmonic, and its West Coast premiere with conductor Cristian Măcelaru and the 2024 Cabrillo Festival Orchestra.
CONTACT
I’d love to hear from you! For inquiries, please submit the form below.
PRESS INQUIRIES
Katy Salomon (She/Her)
Vice President, Public Relations
Primo Artists
244 Fifth Avenue, Suite B222
New York, NY 10001
Office: 646.801.9406
Mobile: 863.660.2214
Email: katy@primoartists.com