Member Profiles
Karen Gibbard
Karen has recently graduated with distinction from her studies with Richard Simpson (oboe) and Gail Hennessy (baroque oboe) on the MMus Oboe Performance - Orchestral Training course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Karen is now embarking on her career as a freelance oboist and also receives regular 'period' instrument coaching through the Jeune Orchestre Atlantique course in France. Karen is the founding member of the Kariosa Ensemble, which has recently performed in the University of Leeds concert series and has led Chamber Tots concerts and educational workshops at the Wigmore Hall. On baroque oboe she plays with the Prince and Pauper Consort which participated in Brighton Festival Early Music Live!.
Other engagements consist of oboe recitals and baroque oboe concerti, and numerous orchestral performances with ensembles such as the Gabrieli Players, Young Musician's Symphony Orchestra, Armonica Consort, Essex Baroque Orchestra, Sinfonia Cymru, The Rehearsal Orchestra, Guildhall Symphony Orchestra, and at the Carnegie Hall with the Orchestra of Vicenza, Italy. Karen also teaches for Richmond Music Trust and is keen to develop both her performance and community work.
Karen writes: I count it as a blessing the day that I stumbled across ACG on the internet. I was sure that there must be other Christians out there with careers in the arts, but it was only very rarely that I had come across them. Being a musician can be quite isolating at time - the hours spent practising or making reeds, the frequent travelling, the intensive and competitive atmosphere, the uncertainty of income, the unsociable schedule etc. I long to meet with others in similar situations - people with whom I can share questions, encouragement, advice and prayer. More than anything I want to love and glorify God through everything I do. I believe that the ACG will help me do that - and that through them I will grow in my walk with Jesus and in my development as a musician; that I will be able to meet and connect with other Christians in the arts and learn from them, and that God will use us to bless and reach out to the world we live in.
