FULL BIO
Karen Campbell is a Boston-based freelance writer/editor with a comfort level in a wide range of fields, from health and education to travel and the performing arts. As a journalist, she has contributed to newspapers and magazines around the world. Since 1999, she has been a cultural correspondent and dance critic for The Boston Globe. She has also been a senior writer for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, for whom she wrote press releases, brochure copy and the annual report.
Ms. Campbell has been hooked on writing since her early childhood in North and South Carolina, penning short stories, poems, plays. She did not intend to be a professional writer, but while living in Philadelphia, her little habit led to the publication of a humorous essay in a small alternative paper. She was then recruited by the Philadelphia dance community to try her hand at writing about dance, with which she had been involved on several levels. She began landing freelance arts pieces in The Philadelphia Inquirer, and a calling was born.
Now Ms. Campbell enjoys writing about virtually anything she can sink her teeth into, from the arts and literature to education and travel. She laced up cleats to write about “A New Breed of Soccer Mom,” donned the “Peter Pan” harness to soar across the Wang Theatre with Kathy Rigby, went parasailing with her young daughter (and then promptly tossed her cookies over the side of the boat.) Anything for a good story...
The other half of Ms. Campbell’s professional brain has been dedicated to music, her first love. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois, where she was a double major in piano and double bass. She also studied composition and dance, later becoming Music Director of the dance department, accompanying dance classes on piano and percussion, composing, choreographing, and teaching music history/appreciation to undergraduate and graduate dance majors. She was also the music director of the dance department at the University of Wisconsin, Stephens Point.
While living in New York and Philadelphia, she choreographed and composed for a variety of modern dance companies and instrumental ensembles, including Relache, Melanie Stewart Dance, Ann Vachon/Dance Conduit and Karen Bamonte/Zero Moving Company. She presented concerts of her own work in New York City and Philadelphia. She was the only Pennsylvanian awarded both Emerging Composer and Emerging Choreographer Fellowships. She has been the frequent recipient of awards by MEET THE COMPOSER and ASCAP, as well as composition fellowships by Yellow Springs Institute and NYC’s Studio PASS.
Since moving to Boston in 1991, Ms. Campbell’s primary musical outlet has been as a professional double bassist. She has been active with numerous area orchestras, including Boston Baroque, with whom she has made several recordings.
Ms. Campbell lives in Brookline, MA with her husband and two cats, having launched their two daughters. If she had an extra life to monkey around with, she’d like to go to art school to try to tame and polish the pathological creativity that has resulted in an attic cluttered with raku vases, ceramic totems, acrylic paintings, glass mobiles and all manner of collages.
CONTACT INFO: [email protected] 617.739.0873
Ms. Campbell has been hooked on writing since her early childhood in North and South Carolina, penning short stories, poems, plays. She did not intend to be a professional writer, but while living in Philadelphia, her little habit led to the publication of a humorous essay in a small alternative paper. She was then recruited by the Philadelphia dance community to try her hand at writing about dance, with which she had been involved on several levels. She began landing freelance arts pieces in The Philadelphia Inquirer, and a calling was born.
Now Ms. Campbell enjoys writing about virtually anything she can sink her teeth into, from the arts and literature to education and travel. She laced up cleats to write about “A New Breed of Soccer Mom,” donned the “Peter Pan” harness to soar across the Wang Theatre with Kathy Rigby, went parasailing with her young daughter (and then promptly tossed her cookies over the side of the boat.) Anything for a good story...
The other half of Ms. Campbell’s professional brain has been dedicated to music, her first love. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois, where she was a double major in piano and double bass. She also studied composition and dance, later becoming Music Director of the dance department, accompanying dance classes on piano and percussion, composing, choreographing, and teaching music history/appreciation to undergraduate and graduate dance majors. She was also the music director of the dance department at the University of Wisconsin, Stephens Point.
While living in New York and Philadelphia, she choreographed and composed for a variety of modern dance companies and instrumental ensembles, including Relache, Melanie Stewart Dance, Ann Vachon/Dance Conduit and Karen Bamonte/Zero Moving Company. She presented concerts of her own work in New York City and Philadelphia. She was the only Pennsylvanian awarded both Emerging Composer and Emerging Choreographer Fellowships. She has been the frequent recipient of awards by MEET THE COMPOSER and ASCAP, as well as composition fellowships by Yellow Springs Institute and NYC’s Studio PASS.
Since moving to Boston in 1991, Ms. Campbell’s primary musical outlet has been as a professional double bassist. She has been active with numerous area orchestras, including Boston Baroque, with whom she has made several recordings.
Ms. Campbell lives in Brookline, MA with her husband and two cats, having launched their two daughters. If she had an extra life to monkey around with, she’d like to go to art school to try to tame and polish the pathological creativity that has resulted in an attic cluttered with raku vases, ceramic totems, acrylic paintings, glass mobiles and all manner of collages.
CONTACT INFO: [email protected] 617.739.0873