Karen Walwyn Papers

Dr. Karen Walwyn, the first African-American female Steinway Artist as a concert pianist/composer, is an Albany recording artist and a Florence Price scholar. Noted as the first pianist to record the Florence Price Concerto in E Minor for piano, Walwyn has continued to perform, record, and present research on Florence Price as she began her work on composers of color with her first two recordings from Albany Records. Additionally, Walwyn made her compositional debut at the Kennedy Center where she performed "Reflections on 9/11" for solo piano. She later recorded it at Albany Records, receiving rave reviews from the American Record Guide and Fanfare Magazine. Walwyn received her B.M. and M.M. from the University of Miami under Dr. J.B. Floyd where she studied with Professors Rosalie Gregory and Susan Starr, and completed her education with her D.M.A. from the University of Michigan under Dr. Arthur Greene.

Walwyn performs as a solo artist and as a guest artist with symphony orchestras across the continent and abroad. She has recorded and produced five albums and has been a guest artist with the New Black Music Repertory Ensemble and the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra in 2021, where she premiered the newly released recording of Price's authentic score of Concerto in One Movement in E Minor. Walwyn was featured in the Emmy–nominated documentaryThe Caged Bird: The Life and Music of Florence B. Price, NPR's Classical Breakdown with Jonathan Banther on Florence Price, and PBS's Now Hear This with Scot Yoo on the subject of Florence Price. Walwyn’s most recent album release, Florence B. Price, was selected as a top five pick by Fanfare Magazine’s critic James Harrington.

[Source: Berklee College of Music faculty profile]