Karen Rosenak has spent all of her professional life in the Bay Area where she has divided her time between teaching and performing. As a graduate student at Stanford University she was introduced to the performance of early music and in particular, the fortepiano, an interest that she continues to pursue. As a (modern) pianist, she has specialized in the performance of new music, which presents constant and varied challenges, frustrations, and ultimately, many rewards. Probably the most challenging and rewarding aspect of her career, however, is the musicianship sequence she teaches at UC...
Books Oxford History of Western Music, 6 vols. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005); Music in the Western World: A History in Documents (with Piero Weiss), second (expanded) edition (Belmont, CA: Thomson-Schirmer, 2007); The Danger of Music, and Other Anti-Utopian Essays (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2008); On Russian Music (University of California Press, 2008).
Articles and Reviews “A Suggestive Detail in Weber’s Freischütz,” in L. Vikarius and V. Lampert, ed., Essays in Honor of László Somfai: Studies in...
As a result of graduating from a Bachelor of Music program (Boston University 1963), but subsequently observing the liberal arts experience as a teacher (Brown University 1971-75), I am a believer in education that integrates study of the arts with study of many other subjects. Not surprising for an ethnomusicologist (MA 1967 and PhD from UCLA)! The ethnomusicology program that I began here at UC Berkeley (from 1975-1976) sits comfortably in a department of music in a College of Letters and Science.
I enjoy pursuing multiple interests and seeing the big picture. I very much enjoy...
