Karen Burciaga

Karen Burciaga is an early strings specialist who bridges the worlds of classical and folk music. She is a founding member of Boston’s folk/early music ensemble Seven Times Salt and the viol consort Long & Away. Karen has performed on violin and viola da gamba across New England and Texas with groups including The King’s Noyse, Arcadia Players, Zenith Ensemble, Austin Baroque Orchestra, and others. She recently appeared in Boston’s Midwinter Revels playing vielle and rebec. A lifelong love of Celtic music led her into the world of folk traditions, and she enjoys fiddling (and dancing!) Scottish, Irish, English, and contra styles, with occasional forays into Cornish and Breton territory.

She has fiddled for the Celtic band Ulster Landing, southern Italian folk band Newpoli, and English Country Dance bands in Greater Boston. Karen earned an MM in Early Music Performance from the Longy School of Music where she studied early strings with Dana Maiben and Jane Hershey and Renaissance and Baroque dance with Ken Pierce. She has taught at Pinewoods Early Music Week, the Texas Toot, and workshops for the Viola da Gamba Society – New England.