User:Joemontague/Kara Johnstad

Kara Jonstand' is Kara Johnstad is an American singer-songwriter, who was born in St.Louis, Missouri and spent her childhood years growing up on a farm in Wisconsin, before moving to Minneapolis, MN as a teenager and later attended the University of Minnesota. She continued her studies in the performing arts at the renowned Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis where she also performed in diverse roles including Shakespeare and American Musical Theater.

Kara Johnstad moved to Berlin, Germany during the 1980's and has lived in Germany continuously since that time. During her early years in Berlin Johnstad formed a duet with Brazilian composer and guitarist Roberto Pereira, resulting in the release of their debut album Crystal Flakes on the record label RCA. The duo regularly appeared on radio and television. As a solo artist, Kara Johnstad released the album Rise In Love, which was later followed by Pages of Sand and Paths X (Pronounced Paths Cross). The later two albums were release in Europe, however, because of their popularity and the timeless quality of her compositions Johnstad decided to reissue or release the albums in North America and internationally in July 2010. The response appears to have been good as numerous radio stations have to date added songs such as; "Different Planes," "Paths X," "Carouselled," (which topped or was near the top of several indie charts in Europe), "Open Up and Received," (all from her Paths X album) and "Pages of Sand," "Smoked Out Blues," and "Melody / Sufi Samba," from her Pages of Sand album. The album Pages of Sand might best be described as New Age meets Pop music, while Pages of Sand is more firmly ensconced in modern Jazz, although on both albums Johnstad demonstrates a fondness for Indian percussion, perhaps linking her to the days when she studied meditation in India.

Johnstad taught at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, Germany from 1995 to 2002 and today she is regarded as one of Germany's most highly esteemed vocal coaches, teaching privately, to clients who are employed within music, film, theater and television.

After taking time away from touring for both personal reasons and to concentrate on her songwriting, Kara Johnstad began to tour again in 2008 and her presentation of noted French film composer Michel Legrand's songs met with crtical acclaim in New York City and in Europe. Germany's largest magazine Stern, American's Billboard and numerous other publications heralded Kara Johnstad by using adjectives such as; sexy, sensuous and without comparison to describe her performances. She is backed by a stellar group of musicians, which includes; artistic director / arranger and pianist, Rolf Zielke, percussionist Rhani Krija (who tours with Sting and Herbie Hancock) and cellist Stephan Braun (who during the summer of 2010 toured with American singer - songwriter Melody Gardot).

In 2010, Kara Johnstad announced that she had three recording projects at various stages of production; Le Grand Love, which she will release before 2012, the year of Michel Legrand's 80th birthday, the Moon in Capricorn, New Age set to orchestral music and Naked Thoughts, which is an unplugged version of new songs and which will feature Johnstad alone with her piano.

In April of 2010 Kara Johnstad performed in New York City over two evenings and again presented her Le Grand Love project to critical acclaim. One week later she returned to Berlin and performed two concerts at one of Europe's most prestigious Jazz venues A-Trane, where she has been invited to perform on numerous occasions over the years. On August 6th and 7th Kara Johnstad will perform in concert in one of Europe's most highly esteemed cultural centers Torun, Poland. On the first evening she is to perform her Le Grand Love music and on the second evening she will be performing with the Toruń Symphony Orchestra conducted by Krzesimir Dębski

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