Karen Lowry-Tucker has been a violinist with the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra since 1992. She earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Louisville in 1977 and a Master of Music degree in Performance from the University of Texas at Austin in 1979. Ms. Tucker then journeyed to Germany where she won a position with the Munich Chamber Orchestra, touring internationally from 1979-1981. Upon returning to the U.S., she qualified for a grant from the New York Philharmonic’s nationwide Orchestral Fellowship Program for exceptional minority string players. Her fellowship training included performing one year with the Atlanta Symphony under the baton of Robert Shaw and two years in Washington, D.C. with the National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Mstislav Rostropovich.

In 1985 Ms.Tucker won a position with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra serving as Assistant Concertmaster for the last two years of her four year tenure. Two years with the North Carolina Symphony in Raleigh preceded her return to the Washington, D.C. area.

Summer studies have included the Meadowmount School of Music under the tutelage of David Cerone and the Aspen Music Festival with Stephen Clapp. Two summers on the faculty of the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, NC were followed by two summers as a member of the Grant Park Symphony in Chicago, Illinois.

Ms. Lowry-Tucker’s violin was made in Livorno, Italy in 1783 by Antonio Gragnani. As a member of the Gragnani String Trio, she enjoys performing chamber music and presenting fun filled children’s concerts that help expose young people to the wonderful world of classical music.