Karla Powell

Oboe Tutor

 

 

Karla Powell started playing the oboe aged seven, taught by Karen Clowes and later Andrew Knights.  She studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama with David Cowley, John Anderson and Sarah Jayne Porsmoguer (cor anglais), graduating in 2011 with First Class Honours and many prizes including the John Macintyre Memorial Prize for orchestral oboe playing and the Doris and Ernest Haigh Memorial Award for excellence, achievement and commitment to studies.  Karla then continued her studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama studying oboe with Gordon Hunt and Alison Tealenand cor anglais with Jane Marshall.  She is grateful to have been financially supported in her studies by the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Leverhulme Trust, Headley Trust, Selwyn Memorial Prize and Old Tauntonians' Association.

After completing her Masters degree with Distinction, Karla continued for a further year at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in the role of Artist Fellow.  This gave her the opportunity to pursue her keen interest in performance psychology as she researched the ways in which musicians can practise better. She also leads some oboe classes at the Guildhall School.

Karla has played with the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera, English National Ballet, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Cymru, Southern Pro Musica and British Sinfonietta.  In 2008 she was the youngest ever appointment to the Welsh National Opera Woodwind Placement Scheme and from 2011-13 she took part in the Guildhall/Philharmonia Sit-in Scheme.

After a summer involved in education and outreach at Kampala Music School, Uganda, Karla returned determined to put her teaching skills into practice.  She has worked for the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama Junior Department, Southampton Music Hub, Ingenium International Academy for Music and City Music Services, London alongside teaching privately.