World Premiere of "Catapult", by Tulsa's Signature Symphony on July 3, 2018!
Karen Naifeh Harmon Concert & Film Composer
"Catapult" World Premiere
Karen Naifeh Harmon Concert & Film Composer
"Catapult" World Premiere
Tulsa Honors Orchestra
THCO students rehearse at the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame
THCO students rehearse at the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame
THCO students rehearse at the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame
Erica Parker stopped by to help prepare the students for their rehearsal with Maestro Andrés Franco.
THO receives support from the Oklahoma Arts Council
THCO students rehearse at the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame
THCO students rehearse at the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame
The Tulsa Honors Orchestra performances are made possible in part by the Oklahoma Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Oklahoma and the National Endowment for the Arts.
THCO Rehearsing at Jody Naifeh's studio
THCO students rehearse at the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame
THCO Rehearsing at Jody Naifeh's studio
These students spent a few months rehearsing for their big night with the Tulsa Signature Symphony.
Bio, World Music Travel
Karen Naifeh Harmon, BIO
Karen Naifeh Harmon is a Composer & Violinist who is known for writing Classical music fused with a twist of World Music Composition styles including Gypsy, Arabic, Latin and Irish fiddling influences. Her compositions have been performed by members of the New York Philharmonic, the European Recording Orchestra of Sofia, Bulgaria, The KLK Symphonic Orchestra in Lviv, Ukraine, the Tulsa Signature Symphony Orchestra, the Tulsa Signature Symphony Quartet, the Tulsa Community College Orchestra, the Tulsa Community Orchestra, Portico Dans Theatre, the Electric Rag Band, Larkin, the Tulsa Honors Orchestra & the Tulsa Honors Baroque Orchestra.
A Nationally Certified Teacher of Violin, Karen recently graduated in November of 2022 from the Film Scoring Academy of Europe with her Graduate Diploma in Film Scoring. In 2020, Karen graduated Summa Cum Laude in Music Composition for Film, TV & Video Games through the prestigious Berklee College of Music. Karen received a Berklee Celebrity Scholarship in the name of Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo, Fall 2015. Karen is listed as a composer with the Sydney Contemporary Orchestra for her suite "The Red Velvet Suite of Dances" for full symphonic orchestra.
Karen also holds a B.S. in Business from the University of Kansas, 1991. Karen is a member of the American Composers Forum, the Suzuki Association of the Americas, Hyechka Music Club, Wednesday Morning Musicale, National Federation of Music Educators, Tulsa Accredited Music Teachers Association & Oklahoma Music Teachers Association through National Music Teachers Association, and is the Chair of the Young Musicians Recital of TAMTA. Karen is the Chair of the OMTA Composition Festival and the Chair of the Oklahoma Chapter of the MTNA Composition Competition. Karen is the Executive Director of the Tulsa Honors Orchestra and teaches Film Composition with the Tulsa Honors Orchestra Composer Institute. Karen has taught private violin & viola lessons for the past 30 years. Karen teaches the String Ensemble Class at Bishop Kelley High School which she started in October of 2013.
World Music and Travel
Karen and her Mom, Jody Naifeh, have traveled around the world with students performing in different countries to engage students in the study of the world through music.
Performance trips have included: Italy in 2002, Ireland in 2005, Austria and Germany in 2008, having performed in Schunbrunn Palace (Mozart's favorite), Argentina in 2011, having performed with the Manuel Del Falla National School of Music, Ireland in 2014, Quebec and Montreal, Canada in 2017.
What's Next: Tentatively planning for Portugal and Spain in 2023!
About
"Catapult" World Premiere
In 2018 I was commissioned by the incredible Erica Parker of the Tulsa Signature Symphony to compose a piece for Signature Symphony to perform with the Tulsa Honors Chamber Orchestra. These young students performed in a "side by side" concert at the World Premiere of "Catapult" as part of the 4th on the 3rd concert at TCC VanTrease PACE Center on July 3, 2018 to a sold out crowd.
"Catapult" Inspiration for the piece
"Catapult" is about hope and how life propels forward dramatically after a great tragedy.
My Musician's Focal Dystonia Story:
In 2011, I could not play my violin for one year. I thought I would go crazy, plus so many emotions are involved for musicians....guilt, anger, embarrassment,
fear...I went to many, many doctors and finally I was diagnosed with "Dystonia" , uncontrollable curling of the fingers. But I realized I was not alone as many musicians have been affected by this disorder: Glenn Gould, Leon Fleisher, Gary Graffman, and guess who else? Robert Schumann. He continued to perform and simply avoided dystonic movements. Leon Fleisher received botox shots in his arm muscles. I actually went through very expensive botox shots for my hand and arm muscles and it only treated the symptoms. It was extremely expensive (I think I paid $800 every three months...) and I wanted to find a cure for the dystonia. Well, there is no cure. Or is there?
I found a website for the Taubman Approach / Golandsky Institute and contacted Sophie Till for violin lessons via Skype. The minute I started working with Sophie, the dystonia started to melt away. I don't remember how long it took, but the curling of my left ring finger just stopped....miraculously. I now teach the Taubman Approach to my young violin students and I am seeing great results.
"Decades ago, Dorothy Taubman's genius led her to analyze what underlies virtuoso piano playing. The result of that investigation has produced a body of knowledge that can lead to an effortless and brilliant technique. It can also prevent and cure fatigue, pain and other playing-related injuries." (quoting Sophie Till's website). Sophie Till has transferred this amazing knowledge to violin playing. I am forever grateful to Sophie Till for the release of tension and the ease of playing that I now experience in my violin playing.
-Karen Naifeh Harmon
Recordings/Inspiration/ Reviews!
Review of Karen Naifeh Harmon by London Celtic Punks, with Larkin, "Toast of St. Jude" 2016:
"We are halfway through and they slip in ‘Lexy Slip Jig/Villain’s Octaves Jig/December Jig’ a collection of dance reels and jigs that prove Larkin are as an accomplished bunch of traditional musicians as exists in celtic-punk. Bloody superb is the only way to describe this and the fiddle playing of Karen Harmon is beyond brilliant."
Music Styles
Rock, Gypsy, Irish Fiddling
Performed 20 years with Larkin, Irish folk music with a punk feel.
Performed 17 years with the Electric Rag Band, styles included rockabilly, rock, gypsy, Irish fiddling. Also performed 4 years as a Violinist with the Tulsa Signature Symphony (approx. 1994-1998), so writing "Catapult" for Signature is a wonderful homecoming, seeing old friends and making new friends is fantastic! Opened for the Legendary Shack Shakers, Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Bugs Henderson, the Paladins, Split Lip Rayfield, Hot Club of Cowtown, Deke Dickerson, Southern Culture on the Skids. Also, have opened for Loretta Lynn and have performed with Wayne Newton, Meredith Monk, Toni Tennille, the Red Dirt Rangers & Brady Orchestra.
More compositions with Classical/ fusion with World Music Styles:
*Tanko Bushi Blues, Duet for Double Bass and Bb Clarinet: fusion of a Japanese work song with American Blues, performed 2013 NYC by members of the NY Philharmonic, Satoshi Okamoto, Double Bass and Pascual Martinez-Forteza, Bb Clarinet.
*Two Cubas" for String Quartet: fusion of "Vivaldiesque" Baroque Classical with Cuban 2-3 Clave with Tango Elements, performed by the Tulsa Signature Symphony Quartet, 2017.
"Red Velvet Suite of Dances", Suite for Full Symphonic Orchestra: Classical Suite mixed with Spanish melodies ("Spanish Scherzo"), Irish Fiddling ("Garganta Del Diablo") & film score style harmonic progressions ("Obscure Waltz").
Recently finished a new Composition with an Irish fiddling feel: "Celtic Princess of the Danube". This piece will have a World Premiere on Friday, November 9, 2019 with Marywood University in Scranton, PA. My students love this piece! There is some dangerous sounding trick fiddling bowing that is so fun to play!
This piece is written in honor of the Celtic Princess that German archaeologists discovered 2011 in the Danube heartland. They found the remains of a Celtic princess, from 2,600 years ago, buried with her gold and amber jewelry.
The princess had remained in her final resting place since about 609BC. This discovery is very exciting to me, as I was amazed and attracted to the gold spiral Celtic jewelry that I saw in a museum in Halstatt while on a performance tour in Austria in 2008.
