Karen Tuttle


Karen Tuttle was an American viola teacher, famous for her "coordination" technique, which emphasizes being comfortable while playing the instrument.
She was originally a violinist who chose to become a violist when she wanted to study with William Primrose, whose technique and ease in playing the viola she greatly admired.
Her coordination technique is often considered to be an analysis of Primrose's technique.
She was a frequent participant at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont.
In 1955, she was invited by Pablo Casals to perform chamber music with him at the Pablo Casals Festival in Prades, where she returned for at least seven subsequent festivals.
She made her Carnegie Hall recital debut in February 1960.
Her recital was reviewed by Harold Schonberg, a leading reviewer for the New York Times. He wrote, "About as large an audience as Carnegie Recital Hall has ever held jammed it yesterday evening at 5:30 to hear Karen Tuttle's recital.
The violist, with Artur Balsam at the piano, gave a concert that seemed to be attended by every string player in town.".
She was a member of the Galimir, Gotham, and Schneider Quartets, as well as the American String Trio.
In 1994 she was recognized by ASTA with the Artist Teacher Award. Curtis Institute of Music awarded her an honorary doctorate in 2005.
She taught at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Curtis Institute of Music, Mannes College and at Juilliard, and several of her students now teach at prominent universities and music conservatories: Christine Rutledge, Sheila Browne, Caroline Coade, Susan Dubois, Edward Gazouleas, Jeffrey Irvine, Kim Kashkashian, Michelle LaCourse, Katherine Murdock, Ashan Pillai, Lawrence Power, Lynne Ramsey, André Roy, Karen Ritscher, Carol Rodland, Kate Hamilton, Masumi Per Rostad, Jennifer Stumm, and Stephen Wyrczynski. There is a "Karen Tuttle Coordination Workshop" held each summer in the USA.
Ms. Tuttle died on December 16, 2010 after a long illness.

Recordings

Karen Tuttle made many recordings throughout her career, both private and commercially released. Her discography includes: