Noel-Bentley, Karen

Clarinetist who graduated from the University of Alberta and went on to attend The University of British Columbia School of Music. She gave her graduate recital on 9^th April 1994 and her program included Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s “Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 128”, Claude Debussy’s “Premiere Rhapsodie”, Edison Denisov’s “Sonate”, Robert Schumann’s “Fantasiestucke, Op. 73”, and Igor Stravinsky’s “L’Histoire du Soldat: Suite”.

On 2^nd April 1995, she helped out her fellow students, Leslie Stephen Dala and Laura McPheeters, at their graduate recitals, performing Johannes Brahms’ “Trio for Piano, Clarinet, and Cello, Op. 114”. They reunited a year later to help composer Joseph Earl Rogers earn his degree, in a recital of “Hanblec’eya” a trio written expressly for them.

On 14^th March 1997, Karen helped premiere Sylvia Rickard’s “Songs of the Lion” with cellist Finn Maniche at the Sonic Boom Festival in Vancouver, British Columbia. She also played at the premiere of Udo Zimmerman’s one-act opera, The White Rose, on 6^th November 1998, at UBC’s Chan Centre for the Performing Arts. On 19^th February 1999, she performed Chan Ka Nin’s “Cool Mountain Water” at Vancouver’s Pan Pacific Hotel.

She returned to Sonic Boom on 26^th March 2000 and duetted with cellist Zoltan Roysnyai on Euphrosyne Keefer’s “A Fragrant Zodiack”. On 26^th May 2002, she participated in the Positive Wishes Benefit Concert at Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver, offering up Francis Poulenc’s “Sonata for Clarinet and Piano”, with Anita Wilson at the keys.

Sonic Boom, anyone? Karen appeared there again on 27^th February 2003 for a performance of Kara Gibbs’ wind quartet, “From Pools and Eddies”. She was the guest soloist on 12^th April 2003 with the Vancouver Philharmonic Orchestra on “Clarinet Concerto No. 2” by Carl Maria von Weber.

Other groups with whom she has performed comprise the Edmonton Wind Ensemble, Hear Me Out, the Helikon Ensemble, Standing Wave, and Vancouver New Music. As of 2009, she was busy studying for a Master of Arts degree at UBC in the field of Special Education.

Edmonton Wind Ensemble recordings
Snake Fence Country (Howard Cable)
CBC Records SMCD 5165 (Snake Fence Country)
Conductor – Harry Pinchin

Sources:

Noel-Bentley, Karen

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