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ABOUT KAREN OLSON
Musician, Recording Artist, Holistic Healer
Karen Olson has felt a deep connection with nature since she can remember. Growing up in Minnesota, her childhood summers were spent basking in the magnificence of one of northern Minnesota’s largest and most pristine lakes, where she continues to return yearly to recharge her creative and spiritual “batteries.” The metaphors found in the titles and text of her musical meditations are inspired by that natural environment as well as from many winters spent skiing in mountain areas throughout the world.
Originally trained as a classical musician, Olson gradually branched out into a variety of musical styles. She has performed with orchestras and chamber music ensembles throughout the world, is a member of the New York Pops, and has played with such luminaries as Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli and Tony Bennett. As a solo performer and a leader of healing and meditation workshops, she has appeared at numerous venues throughout the United States.
Olson’s musical style transcends labels. It can be heard as New Age, World, New Classical, Ambient or “whatever it evokes for the listener.” One of her styles has been compared to Philip Glass’s minimalism. As in nineteenth-century programmatic music (music based on literature and the topic of her doctoral dissertation), Olson’s musical meditations become the catalyst for
the listener’s story that comes up during the listening. “That story may be one of calm reflection or of deep releases,” she notes. “This becomes the healing and transformative journey.”
The daughter of a minister, Olson started performing as a soloist in churches when she was a teenager. During that time, she developed a fascination for world religions and began to explore different forms of spirituality.
Years later, as improvisation became a natural part of her musical process, Olson’s intuitive skills developed. She credits her evolution as a healer to her many teachers, chief among them Vianna Stibal, creator of Theta Healing™, a meditative technique that enables the practitioner to enter a theta brain-wave state (a state of deep meditation) conducive to instantaneous healing and transformation. A certified Theta Healing practitioner and instructor, Olson has adapted Theta Healing, expanding her capacity for helping others to benefit from the technique. She is also a trained and certified Reiki Master.
In addition to her viola work, Olson uses drumming as a healing modality. She is trained in the HealthRhythms™ technique of neurologist Barry Bittman, MD, which has been shown to be helpful in combating cancer and the effects of stress.
“My lifelong spiritual journey centers on pursuing my own healing and growth and sharing what I learn with others,” says Olson. “I feel blessed to be living my dream: to perform music that comes from a spiritual place within me, and which invites and guides the listener’s personal journey, growth and healing.”
Olson holds a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from Juilliard, where she was a Leopold Schepp Foundation Scholar. She earned a master’s degree from Yale, and a PhD from New York University. She has taught all ages and levels, and has served on the faculty at Rutgers University and at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ.
Karen Olson is a member of ASCAP. Seasons of the Soul is her third CD. Her first, Earth Angel, offers a collage of musical styles. She can also be heard on, Ellypsis, a compilation of various jazz styles created and performed with the Ellypsis trio, of which she is a former member.
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