Dr. Karen Michelle Bergmann is a native of central Maryland, where she started on violin at 3 years old and then switched to cello at the age of 8.  She attended high school at the Baltimore School for the Arts, then went on to earn her Bachelor’s degree Magna cum Laude with a double major in Music and Religious Studies at Ithaca College in upstate New York.  Karen subsequently won a full scholarship to complete her Master’s studies at the Irish World Music Centre at the University of Limerick, Ireland.  In June of 2002 she relocated to Tuscany, Italy, where she studied at the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory and developed her career as a soloist and chamber musician, highlighted by a series of concerts at the historic Orsanmichele church in Florence’s city center.  Karen returned to the U.S. in February of 2007. She earned her Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Georgia in May of 2012, subsequently returning to UGA to complete additional coursework toward a PhD in Musicology. She is now a full-time freelance musician and Suzuki-certified cello teacher based in Athens, GA.