Karen Hough has joined the Victoria Conservatory of Music Faculty in 2022 and teaches horn at the Conservatory’s main location. She was born in Nanaimo as were 3 previous generations of her family and raised in Victoria. She earned her Bachelor of Music Degree from The University of Victoria. She went on to study at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto in the Orchestral Training Programme. She received her Master of Music from Yale University and was the first horn player ever to receive Yale’s prestigious Artist Diploma. She spent a year as Artist in Residence at The Banff Centre.
Summer Music Festivals she attended include Courtney Youth Music Camp. The Blossom Festival at Kent State University, Aspen and the LA Philharmonic Institute, where guest conductors included Simon Rattle and John Williams.
After a career as an orchestral and chamber musician in Toronto, Karen returned to the west coast at the turn of the century. She served in the Naden Band of the Royal Canadian Navy, as well as joining the Vancouver Island Symphony. She is also an avid chamber musician., playing in such groups as the West Coast Chamber Players, Windsong Woodwind quintet, Ensemble Pacifica, and can be found in the pit of many musical theatre productions.