Karen Tweed
born in LONDON, ENGLAND, 1963

Karen Tweed started to play piano accordion under her first teacher Joe Coll at 11 years of age and went onto study with Lawry Eady, Warren Eagle and finally John Whelan under whose guidance and tuition she won the first of 5 All Ireland Championships in 1977. To date, Karen Tweed is featured on over 20 Cds with ensembles such as The Kathryn Tickell Band, The Poozies, SWÅP, Ian Carr and Karen Tweed, The Two Duos Quartet and May Monday.

She is now available for tours together with Christy O'Leary and Bert Deivert.

Karen Tweed is established as one of the finest exponents of the piano accordion and is also in demand for her work as an arranger, composer and tutor. Her playing which moves with ease between blistering melody lines and soulful backing, has been described as ‘mercurial, subtle and astounding’.

1990 saw Karen leave a full time Art & Design teaching post at Bexhill High School, Sussex to become a professional musician, working with the Poozies, The Kathryn Tickell Band and Sally Barker & The Rhythm respectively. Since then, her playing has taken her all over the world, giving concerts in Hong Kong, Cairo, Lesotho, Istanbul, Japan, Europe, The US and Quebec.

She is immensely respected for her collaborative work with the Anglo-Swedish ensemble SWÅP; the English collective,’The Two Duos Quartet’ and more recently her ‘May Monday’ project with Timo Alakotila received critical acclaim from BBC Radio producers to music events organisers throughout Europe. This project which combined her composing skills with cross cultural arrangements using folk, jazz and classical ideas has led to a new commission from The Sage Gateshead / PRS Foundation entitled ‘The 4K Plot’. Scheduled for November 2005, the performance brings together the large scale images of Scottish painter Keith McIntyre, the traditional dance ideas of Kerry Fletcher and the new music composed and performed by Karen Wimhurst (clarinets) and Karen Tweed (accordion). This will be premiered at the Baltic Art Gallery on the River Tyne in Newcastle, England and is an interactive piece for ‘wind, sole and drawing instruments’.

Drawing from her background in Irish traditional music, she houses a wealth of musical history with a respect for other European traditions making her music accessible yet individiual.

'Tweed's sensibilities straddle classical and traditional modes with the agility of Margot Fonteyn and the fluency of someone bi-lingual since birth. This is a music tethered to neither a time nor a location.' Irish Times April 2001.

'...some of the most beautiful music I have heard so far in 2001' what Tweed has done is further liberate the piano accordion from the oompah band stereotypes and demonstrate the instrument's full melodicism...' Irish Echo, New York May 2001.

Future Plans include:
A new Irish tunes book with accompanying Cds
A new CD with SWÅP
Faerd touring Australia and New Zealand
Teaching at Newcastle Folk Degree Course and Limerick World Music Centre AIMs courses
Featured on a new CD with Sandra Joyce, Niall Keegan and Clive Carroll

for more info, see Karen's website at : www.karentweed.co.uk

Discography

1987 - Roger Wilson: The Palm Of Your Hand (Harbourtown Records)
1992 –- Sally Barker & The Rhythm: Beating The Drum (Hypertension)
1993 –- The Kathryn Tickell Band: Signs (Black Crow)
1993 –- The Poozies: Chantoozies (Hypertension)
1994 –- Karen Tweed: Drops Of Springwater (Dave Mallinson publications)
1994 –- Karen Tweed: The Silver Spire (Dave Mallinson publications)
1994 –- Karen Tweed: Irish Choice Tune Book (Dave Mallinson publications)
1994 –- Compilation: Across The Water (Live concert from Cork University – Nimbus Records)
1995 –- Pete Morton: Courage, Love and Grace (Harbourtown Records)
1995 - The Poozies: Dansoozies (Hypertension)
1995 –- Ian Carr & Karen Tweed: Shhh (Hypertension)
1997 –- Ian Carr & Karen Tweed: Fyace (Fyasco Records)
1997 –- SWÅP: SWÅP (Amigo)
1998 - The Poozies: Come Raise Your Head (4 track EP) (Poozmusic)
1999 –- SWÅP: sic (Amigo)
1999 –- The Two Duos Quartet: Half As Happy As We (RUF Records)
2000 -The Poozies: Infinite Blue (Pure Records)
2000 –- Live på Halkaerkro: Compilation of Live tracks inc. Poozies, Swåp, KTB etc. (Halkaer1)
2001 -The Poozies: A Retrospective (Compass Records)
2001 –- Karen Tweed & Timo Alakotila: May Monday (Fyasco Records)
2002 –- Karen Tweed: CDRom tutorial (MadForTrad)
2002 –- SWÅP: Mosquito Hunter (Amigo)
2002 –- Andy Cutting & Karen Tweed: One Roof Under (Fyasco Records)
2002 –- Faerd: Faerd
2003 –- The Poozies: Changed Days Same Roots (Greentrax)


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