New Zealand cellist Karen French is based in Wellington as an orchestral and chamber musician. She began playing the cello aged 9 and went on to study with David Chickering while at school and later with Edith Salzmann at the University of Canterbury, graduating with a Bachelor of Music with Honours in 2008. During this time she was awarded the Keith Laugesen Scholarship for Music and was the NZSO National Youth Orchestra principal cello. Karen then won a place to study with Professor Mario De Secondi at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik, Trossingen in Germany.

In 2011 Karen was selected to play in Southbank Sinfonia. With Southbank Sinfonia Karen has performed with Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, BBC Concert Orchestra and in the National Theatre performing in Jonathan Miller’s staged version of St. Matthew Passion and at the Royal Opera House. She has also performed in Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth hall and LSO St. Luke’s and other venues around the UK. She has also played with the Christchurch Symphony in New Zealand.
As a chamber musician Karen is a founding member of the Alke Quartet and the Enceladus Ensemble. The Alke Quartet have performed throughout the UK including, Wigmore Hall, St Martin-in-the-Field, St James, Piccadilly, Bath Pump Rooms and the Barbican. Karen has received coaching from David Waterman, Krysia Osostowicz, Richard Ireland, Simon Rowland-Jones and Jackie Shave. The quartet were finalists in the St Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Competition and the Royal Overseas League Chamber Music Competition. They were participants at International Music Seminar Prussia Cove and selected for the Britten Sinfonia Lab working closely with the principal players of Britten Sinfonia. In January 2017 they participated in the Winter Residency Programme in Banff, Canada. The quartet was selected for a residency at the Royal College of Music on the Chamber Music Course from 2015-2017, kindly supported by a legacy from the late Albert and Eugenie Frost. With the Enceladus Ensemble the focus has been on championing the less heard composers for piano quartet and also commissioning arrangements from contemporary composers for the group.

Karen is grateful for support received during her studies from the Whetu/Lankhuyzen Scholarship Trust and for sponsorship of her Hinsberger cello.