Karen Ní Bhroin is from Co. Wexford, Ireland and is one of Ireland’s leading young female conductors. Karen is a Music Education graduate of Trinity College Dublin and holds the position of Graduate Assistant Orchestral Conductor at Kent State University, Ohio where she is pursuing her masters in orchestral conducting with Dr. Jungho Kim.
Karen began her musical training at the age of four on tin whistle, concertina and piano with her aunt, Nóra Kavanagh. In 2006 Karen was awarded a place at the RIAM to study clarinet under Fintan Sutton, and won the ESB Electric Ireland Feis Ceoil Senior Clarinet competition 2012.
Leaving the clarinet for the baton, Karen made her conducting debut with Trinity College Orchestra in 2013 in the final year of her degree. Karen has previously studied conducting privately with Neil Thomson, Robert Houlihan, Denise Ham, John Longstaff and David Brophy. She has also attended conducting courses and classes in Europe and America with Rodolfo Saglimbeni, Neil Varon and John Farrer.
Karen made her debut as a speaker at Talent Talks in 2017 with her talk Facilitating Leadership: Making Music with No Instrument. Recent clients include Sigmar Recruitment and Car Trawler.