Cellist Karen Becker is an active soloist and chamber musician. Performances have taken her around the world to Brazil, the Czech Republic, England, South Korea, Mexico, Norway, Switzerland, Vietnam, and throughout the United States. National and international festival appearances include serving as artist faculty for the Ameropa Music Festival in Prague, SoundWaves Music Festival, Red Lodge Music Festival, and most recently the International Cello Institute. She is an enthusiastic teacher, having given cello and chamber master classes around the world, including the American String Teachers Association National Convention in Orlando.
Collaborative work includes cello improvisation with dance colleagues at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, playing chamber music with her Nebraska colleagues, touring regularly as a soloist, cellist of the Becker-Bogard Duo, the Concordia String Trio, and the Front Range Piano Quartet. In October 2023 the Becker-Bogard Duo released their CD American Landscapes, which includes works by Samuel Barber, Libby Larsen, Warren Gooch, Laurence Sherr, and George Walker.
As cellist of the Concordia String Trio, she has recorded Viennese String Trios, American Vistas, and From the Heart of Ra: New Chamber Music for Viola by Andrew List. In 2015 Becker and pianist Jay Mauchley gave the world premiere of Laurence Sherr’s Sonata for Cello and Piano: Mir Zaynen Do! at the University of Nebraska, Premieres were also given in Montana and in California in 2017. Becker has recorded for several PBS documentaries and independent films and has been featured numerous times on American Public Media’s Performance Today. She currently serves as principal cellist of the Lincoln Symphony and cello professor and chamber coach in the University of Nebraska’s Glenn Korff School of Music. An avid cyclist, Becker enjoys endurance cycling and participating in century rides.
