Karen Keating is organist and choir director at Grace Episcopal Church in Berryville, Virginia. She was the mezzo soloist for the Washington Chorus tours of Germany, Austria and France. With fellow Shenandoah faculty member Byron Jones, she recorded an album of cabaret songs, What Have You Done to My Heart, released by Redfont Records. Under her leadership, the Shenandoah Chorus traveled to Roswell, New Mexico, in 2004 to premiere Stephen Melillo’s Beyond Courage, a tribute to veterans of the Bataan Death March. In May 2005, she and the chorus went to Tokyo, Japan, to record the work.

Since coming to Shenandoah, she has been conductor of several chamber operas including Vinkensport by David T. Little and Gianni Schicci by Puccini. She has also been choirmaster for several operas, including the premiere of Russell Woollen’s The Birthday of the Infanta, which was performed at the Kennedy Center. She has served as music director and conductor for Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre productions including West Side Story, Legally Blonde, South Pacific, Oliver!, Fiddler on the Roof, The Producers, West Side Story, Hello, Dolly!, Grease, Gigi, The King and I, The Music Man, My Fair Lady, Sugar, Brigadoon, Pirates of Penzance, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and Guys and Dolls; she has also been music director for academic year productions of H.M.S. Pinafore, Me and My Girl, Kiss Me, Kate, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Cabaret, Carnival, The Pajama Game, and Pippin.

Karen Keating spent many years studying and working in Austria. While there, she studied with several renowned conductors, including Kurt Prestel, Walter Hagen-Groll, Nicholas Harnoncourt, Gerhard Wimberger, and Bernhard Conz; she also attended a masterclass with Herbert von Karajan. She was the Director of the Robert Schollum Chor Hallein; the accompanist and assistant director of the Salzburger Liedertafel; regional choir director for the Arbeiter-Sängerbund; performed in a twentieth-century vocal ensemble; and sang in opera productions, including Mozart’s Idomeno with Werner Hollweg and Carol Vaness.