Artist Bio

A native New Yorker, Karen LeFrak is a prolific and versatile composer and author whose vibrant, moving musical scores have been presented in prestigious concert halls around the world. Highlights of her career include 19 studio albums, which have garnered more than 50 million global streams, a catalog of over 300 works, and worldwide performances by prominent organizations including the New York Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Ballet, and Mariinsky Ballet. She has also received accolades for her children’s books, which are published by Bloomsbury, Random House, and Crown Books.

Ms. LeFrak’s works have been performed by the American Ballet Theatre; the Joffrey and San Francisco Ballets; the New York University and Juilliard School percussion ensembles; the Miami Symphony Orchestra; Boston Chamber Symphony; and Sejong Soloists, with artists such as pianist Anne-Marie McDermott and flutist Eugenia Zukerman. She has received commissions from American Ballet Theatre, Miami Symphony Orchestra, Youth America Grand Prix, NY Theatre Ballet, the National Symphony Orchestra, NYU Percussion Ensemble, and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, among other organizations. Her compositions have been heard across the United States, Europe, Russia, and Asia, in venues that include David Geffen Hall and the Koch Theatre at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Moscow’s Kremlin, for the 250th anniversary of the Bolshoi Ballet School, Symphony Space in New York, National Sawdust in Brooklyn, Bethel Woods Arts Center, Festival Napa Valley, and the White House. 

Consolation, Ms. LeFrak’s latest recording, marks the 15th release in a series of highly successful solo piano albums, recorded by pianist Jorn Swart. Each album features 10 short, atmospheric piano pieces that have been included in hundreds of curated playlists on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, and other streaming services, yielding more than 50 million global streams.  

Ms. LeFrak has also recorded three notable albums of chamber music; new recording projects for chamber music, solo piano, and string ensemble are in place for 2026-2027.

ROMÁNTICO, her first orchestral album, features the internationally acclaimed, Grammy-winning guitar soloist Sharon Isbin, and conductor Enrico Lopez-Yañez leading New York City’s Orchestra of St. Luke’s. It was released on May 30, 2025. The centerpiece of the album is the Miami Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra, which evokes the city’s musical culture. “The key is LeFrak’s decision to base each movement around a different Cuban rhythm and to spice up her orchestral writing (in the first and third movements) with Latin percussion,” reported Acoustic Guitar, praising the composer’s “knack for writing beautiful, expressive melodies and creating moods…” In a glowing review, American Record Guide commented, “It is heartening to see the collaboration between an important performer and a composer willing to try new ideas with the guitar.”

Inspired by her passion for classical piano, which began when she started playing at age 3, Ms. LeFrak launched her career as a composer when she introduced young people to the worlds of music and dance with her first two acclaimed children’s books — Jake the Philharmonic Dog and Jake the Ballet Dog. Her next book, Best in Show, in which she shares her passion for raising Standard Poodles and breeding many champions, received similar high praise.

Ms. LeFrak wrote a score for her fourth published book, Sleepover at the Museum, inspiring her to create a multimedia concert piece for children that premiered with the Miami Symphony Orchestra in 2020. Its success was followed by a performance with the New York Philharmonic on its first-ever family benefit, honoring Ms. LeFrak’s dedication and contribution to the orchestra. Sleepover has been performed nearly 20 times by renowned orchestras, including the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington D.C., at Festival Napa Valley, Nashville and Winston-Salem orchestras, the Missoula Symphony, and the Beijing and Shanghai symphony orchestras, with narration translated into Mandarin. A choreographed version was performed by A&A Ballet in Chicago, and in Guatemala City at the Bravissimo International Festival. Recent performances of Sleepover at the Museum took place with the Virginia, Santa Cruz and Anchorage Symphony orchestras. 

Upcoming highlights of Ms. LeFrak’s 2025-26 season include live performances of her Miami Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra, with Isbin, with the Indianapolis and Las Vegas symphony orchestras. A ballet performance of Windy Sands, featuring a group of her solo piano pieces, will be performed at the Youth America Grand Prix Festival at the Koch Theatre in the spring.

American Promise, a new commission for full orchestra by the National Symphony Orchestra to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, will be premiered February 13 and 14, 2026, in Washington, D.C. A performance by the Miami Symphony Orchestra follows in March, among others. Ms. LeFrak has just recorded the album American Promise with the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios, with conductor William Ross. Along with American Promise, the album includes its sister piece Lady Liberty Suite (Arrival, The City and A New Land), and a work for solo clarinet and strings titled Prairie Dawn. The album will be released in March 2026.  

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