Ken Karsh

A respected and active guitarist, composer, and educator in the Pittsburgh area, Ken Karsh has been involved in music since he began playing guitar at the age of 9. His guitar instructors included Tom Mester, Denny Cameron, the late Alex Radulesco and Joe Negri. He attended Berklee College of Music and received his B.M. & M.M. in performance at Duquesne University. While at Duquesne University, Karsh studied composition with Joseph Jenkins and jazz composition with Michael Tomaro. He has performed with Jimmy McGriff, Barry Miles, Spider Rondinelli, Eric Kloss, Bobby McFerrin, Lee Konitz, Larry Elgart, Joe Negri, Joey DeFrancesco, “Papa John” DeFrancesco, Jack McDuff, Gene Ludwig, Bernadette Peters, the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra (performing on Mandolin), Nathan Davis, Michael Gibbs, and Angel Romero. Karsh was the guitarist for numerous Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera musical theater productions, including Jesus Christ, Superstar, Chess, Chicago, A Chorus Line, Parade (composed by Jason Robert Brown, who also conducted), Fiddler On The Roof (performing on guitar and mandolin), Copacabana (composed by Barry Manilow) and recently The Lion King (at the Benedum Theatre with Gazelle Company). In 1981, Karsh was the electric guitar soloist in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Andre Previn’s Concerto For Guitar And Orchestra. He has been featured on recordings with Bobby McFerrin, Gene Ludwig, Nathan Davis, Eric Kloss, Jimmy Sapienza, Arnold Sterling, Darryl Alexander, Lisa Ferraro, and the Wheeling Symphony. Karsh is a faculty member at the Mary Pappert School of Music at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA and a faculty member at the Duquesne University Summer Guitar Workshop. Karsh is a member of the Duquesne University faculty guitar ensemble Catch 22 and is featured, along with his colleagues Bill Purse, Mark Koch, and Jeff Mangone on their CDs Reappearance and Sly On Life. Karsh’s composition Sly On Life, the title track of Catch 22’s new CD release, was featured on the Black Entertainment Television network (BET) and on WQED’s On Q television program (both performances by Catch 22). His arrangements and etudes are featured in the Mel Bay and Warner Bros. publications, Jazz Guitar Standards (2002) and Jazz Guitar Standards: Chord Melody Solos and Mel Bay’s Guitar Journals: Jazz. Karsh has authored two textbooks for guitar: Jazz Scale Workout (Mel Bay Publications) and Fingerboarding Made EZ: Scale & Arpeggio Visualization for Guitar (self published)