KAREN FOLLINGSTAD has been Professor of Piano at San Diego State University since 1984. She has also taught at Indiana University, the University of Texas at Austin, Kent State University, the University of Akron, and was artist faculty at the Kent-Blossom Music Festival from 1992-94, where she coached chamber music and performed with principal members of the Cleveland Orchestra.
As a solo recitalist, Dr. Follingstad has performed extensively throughout Europe and North America and has recorded for the Hessische Rundfunk and the Norwegian Radio. She has appeared as soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Blossom Festival Orchestra, the San Diego Chamber Orchestra, and the Bear Valley Music Festival Orchestra, among others.
An experienced collaborative pianist, Dr. Follingstad, in partnership with clarinetist Marian Liebowitz, was 1997 winner of the United States Information Agency/Kennedy Center Artistic Ambassador Competition, which resulted in a month-long tour of Central and South America. The Duo was also chosen to represent the U. S. at El Salvador’s Third Annual Peace Festival in 1998. She has also performed recitals with cellist Yo Yo Ma, violinist Andres Cardenes, William Preucil, Cho-Liang Lin, and appeared as guest artist with the Thouvenel String Quartet, the Ensemble of Santa Fe, the Miami String Quartet, the Pacifica String Quartet and the Arioso Wind Quintet, among others. She has also participated at numerous prestigious music festivals including the Berkshire Festival at Tanglewood; the La Jolla Chamber Music Society’s Summer Fest, the Mainly Mozart Festival, and summer festivals in Bear Valley and Marin, CA, Sedona, AZ and Steamboat Springs, CO.
Ms. Follingstad holds the Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, the Konzertexamen from the Frankfurter Hochschule, Germany, the Master of Music degree from Indiana School of Music, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Her major teachers include Louis Martin, Paul Freed,Seymour Lipkin, Richard Goode, August Leopolder, Gyorgy Sebok, and Gregory Allen.