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 will result in the commission of a new work to be premiered by the ensemble in Seattle. She was also recently 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 last year. Saguaro was also recently accepted into the PROJECT : ENCORE database of Schola Cantorum on Hudson.
Karen is active as a soprano, frequently performing her own works, and as a conductor. She recently 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. In the spring of 2015, Karen will be on the faculty at Drew University. Her works are both published by See-A-Dot Music Publishing and self-published through Chestnutoak Press (www.KarenSiegel.com). Karen lives in Hoboken, New Jersey with her husband and son.