| Burton
Karson Conductor
Burton Karson founded the Baroque Music Festival in 1981 with the
assistance of colleague and art historian Irmeli Desenberg, and
has served continuously as the Festival’s Artistic Director
and Conductor.
After a career as a boy soprano in Los Angeles, he studied piano
with Paul Stoye and then musicology, keyboard performance and conducting
at the University of Southern California, where he earned the degrees
of Bachelor, Master and Doctor in Music. He studied Baroque music
and harpsichord with Alice Ehlers, and conducting with Charles Hirt
and Ingolf Dahl. After teaching positions at USC and Glendale College,
he became Professor of Music at California State University, Fullerton
in 1965, and now is Professor Emeritus there. A lifelong church
musician, he was organist and choirmaster at Saint Michael & All
Angels Episcopal Church from 1982 to 2000, now Emeritus.
Dr. Karson is well known as a pianist and organist, as a frequent
lecturer for the Philharmonic Society of Orange County, the Long
Beach Symphony Orchestra, the Carmel Bach
Festival and other musical organizations, and as an adjudicator
for festivals and competitions. Editor of a Festschrift of musicological
essays published by the BYU Press, Karson has had articles and reviews
appearing in The Musical Quarterly, the Los Angeles Times,
and other periodicals, and he provides the program notes for our
Festival. Dr. Karson has twice been honored by California State
University, Fullerton with awards in recognition of his contributions
to the cultural life of our community and for academic research
in Europe that has led to critically acclaimed first American performances
of unknown and long-neglected Baroque music in Corona del Mar Festivals.
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