Karoline “Karli” Leal is a transplanted Californian violist. On the road of life she was going to be an animator, then got distracted by the viola and has been doing that ever since. Her formative years in classical music were with numerous Russian pedagogues, foremost of which was Galina André, but with additional instruction from Vladimir Khalikulov, Janet Grizzell and David Margetts. Karli completed her Undergraduate Degree at the University of Texas at Austin with Roger Myers, then went on to do her Masters Degree at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music with Masao Kawasaki and Dr. Catharine Carroll.

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Karli has been consistently involved with new music since entering college. At UT she was a core member of the New Music Ensemble under the direction of Dan Welcher and at CCM she was a member of the Chamber Players Ensemble, while also performing with other student-formed chamber ensembles. She has collaborated with many living composers on premieres and performances of their works both in the US and abroad. She enjoys working in chamber ensembles of unusual instrumentation, but is equally happy playing traditional format symphonies and string quartets. Not limited to classical music, Karli also does studio recording work for film scores and bands.

 

Currently Karli is a member of the Central Texas Philharmonic and performs frequently around Central Texas with the Mid-Texas Symphony, Waco Symphony, Dallas Chamber Symphony and the Austin Opera. She is also a collaborator with the Auricle Chamber, a flexible contemporary classical music ensemble, and Nøkken + The Grim, a violin-led dark folk band based in Austin.

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In addition to her musical life, Karli is also a visual artist and graphic designer, chiefly for the Dallas Chamber Symphony but also for various other classical music individuals and organizations such as The Starling Chamber Orchestra in Cincinnati. She occasionally does illustrations for literary subjects that strike her fancy. Her work can be viewed by clicking the Artwork tab.