Viola, Violin
Winnipeg-born violist Karen Moffatt began her studies on violin at the age of 6 in the Suzuki program under the direction of Joanne Martin. She now holds a Master of Music in viola performance from the University of Victoria where she served as Teaching Assistant under the Lafayette String Quartet from 2000-2003, has earned a Bachelor of Music from the University of Manitoba under violinist David Stewart, and an Honors Degree from the University of Wellington in New Zealand under the New Zealand String Quartet.
An avid chamber musician, Karen has most recently performed in concert with pianist Bernadine Blaha, and as a guest violist with the Hoebig/Moroz Trio. This past summer she completed an eight-week residency with the newly formed Rocca String Quartet, where she worked with distinguished artists and composers such as Kryszstof Penderecki, Gary Kulesha, Lawrence Lesser, Erica Raum, and Scott-St John and Karen Tuttle. She has toured Finland, Sweden, France and New Zealand, and participated in many festivals across Canada and the United States over the past ten years. An active orchestral musician, Karen has been a member of the Victoria Symphony, the Okanagan Symphony, New Zealand Ballet Orchestra, and has played principal viola for the Vancouver Island Symphony, the Prince George Symphony, and the San Juan Island Chamber Orchestra. Currently, she plays for the Windsor Symphony, the Toronto Sinfonia, and the Toronto Chamber Orchestra.
Karen has been teaching violin and viola for the past seven years, at music festivals such as the Courtenay Youth Music Festival, and both privately and in group lessons at the Preparatory Studies in Winnipeg, the Manitoba Conservatory, the Regent Park School of Music, and now at the Classical Music Conservatory in Toronto.