About

Karalyn Schubring (b. 1999) grew up playing piano, singing solfege, and creating her own music as a very young student at East Valley Yamaha Music School, but for a long time, her musical studies felt about as exciting as doing homework. One night in middle school, her teacher took her to see a solo piano concert by Hiromi Uehara. She was immediately electrified by Hiromi’s flying fingers and contagious, child-like delight evident in the ways she stomped, sang, and danced along to her own compositions (watch here): it was as though a voice from above had clearly spoken: “You see? Music is fun!” Soon after this, Karalyn became obsessed with improvising and found tremendous joy and purpose in musical creativity. Today, Karalyn’s creative practice exists to call forth others’ innate, God-given creativity.

Karalyn’s compositions often contain inspiration from nature imagery, improvisations, jazz-fusion grooves, musical games, and luxurious melodies. She has been recognized by national organizations such as MTNA, ACF, ACO, the National YoungArts Foundation, National Youth Arts, and ASCAP. She was awarded Special Distinction in the 2022 ASCAP Rudolf Nissim Prize for Large Ensemble Compositions for her Piano Concerto. She is an alum of NPR’s From the Top and has received commissions from East Valley Children’s Theatre, Pioneer High School, Trio Gaia, Quartet Granitique, consortiums headed by the Invictus Duo and Cerus Quartet, Zachary Arthur, Parker Nelson, Joseph Swift, Mary Garza, Maria Torres Melgares, Mickenna Keller, Annie Jeng, Matt Albert, Timothy McAllister, and the Arizona Masterworks Chorale. Her music has been performed worldwide and is featured on albums by Vanguard Reed Quintet (Red Leaf Collection), The Cygnus Trio (Amalgam: Music for a Particularly Sparkly Afternoon), Joseph Swift (Room to Breathe), and Timothy McAllister (Project Encore: Vol. 1).

As a pianist, Karalyn loves creating one-of-a-kind concert experiences. In fall of 2023, she began performing concerts in people’s homes that combine her obsessions with improvising, audience participation, storytelling, and playful games. She has premiered dozens of solo and chamber pieces by her colleagues, some of which were written specifically for her. She has also performed her own Piano Concerto with the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra and the Chandler Symphony.

Karalyn is a founding member of the ensemble Front Porch (est. 2017), a quartet of violin, bassoon, piano, and percussion that encourages people to build relationships with contemporary music and the people who create it. Front Porch has commissioned several young composers and premiered over two dozen new compositions. They will soon be releasing a video concert album on Youtube and all major streaming platforms.

Karalyn holds a BM in Music Composition (‘20) from the University of Michigan, where she studied piano with Matthew Bengtson and composition with Kristin Kuster, Bright Sheng, Roshanne Etezady, Michael Daugherty, and Evan Chambers. She is also grateful for the generous mentorship of Daron Hagen, Gilda Lyons, Heidi Grimes, Tomoko Yonemaru, and Gabriela Lena Frank.

Karalyn loves following Jesus, hiking, doodling, cooking, and being goofy with her husband. She currently resides in Mesa, Arizona and gets to teach composition to brilliant young students at East Valley Yamaha Music School.