Karen Gustafson

Yamaha Trumpet Artist, Karen Gustafson earned the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Trumpet Performance and Wind Band Conducting from The University of Minnesota (Twin Cities). Her Master of Music Degree in Trumpet Performance is from Northwestern University and Her Bachelor of Music Degree in Trumpet Performance is from The University of Victoria (Canada). She is currently teaching as a contract faculty at Burman University where she is available to accept trumpet students. She was trumpet instructor and band director at  Red Deer College  in Red Deer, Alberta. She recently retired as Associate Professor of Music at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, where she taught trumpet and conducted the Wind Symphony and Trumpet Ensemble.

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Dr. Gustafson is an internationally known trumpet performer and clinician having recently performed concerts and recitals in Malaysia, Texas, Italy, Canada, and across the United States. She performed a recital at the 2012 International Women’s Brass Conference as well as performing a lecture recital with Borealis Brass at the same conference. She performed as a soloist at the 2011 International Alliance of Women in Music Congress.She presented a lecture recital with Susan Kahro at the 2019 International Trumpet Guid Conference in Miami, Florida.

Other performance credits include the Bach Chamber Players of St. Paul, Minnesota Orchestra, Windsor Symphony, Phantom of the Opera Orchestra (Toronto), Enid Symphony, Niagara Symphony, and the Shaw Festival Orchestra. Dr. Gustafson served as a guest artist in the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival and has performed at the UNESCO World Forum on Music, the International Women’s Brass Conference, the World Saxophone Congress, and the International Trumpet Guild Conference. She is heard on NPR’s ‘Intermissions’ as well as PBS and CBC Radio Canada. She has been guest soloist with several bands and orchestras in the United States and Canada and has given solo recitals in Alaska, Oklahoma, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, Ontario, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.

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Dr. Gustafson is heard on the Borealis Brass album Roman Holidays (2009), and the upcoming Borealis Brass album Critter Music. She is also heard on a collaborative DC with her husband, trombonist, James Bicigo, on their album Pacific Crossings.