About Karen Kohler

Karen Kohler is a story singer, writer, guide and community builder. She emigrated from Germany to Long Island as a child, the daughter of an airline executive. After completing her BA in international studies and music at the University of Arizona, she spent her early adulthood in Texas where, in 1999, she gave up a top position with a Fortune 500 company to follow the call to singing. Karen leads the European cabaret arts in New York City as singer, director, ensemble leader and historian. She performs in cabarets, concert halls, festivals, consulates and embassies worldwide, crossbreeding a range of theatrical and musical styles - from jazz and Delta blues to classical, rock-folk and cabaret. She guides a diversity of artists in fulfilling their creative calling and lectures at the university level on the European roots of small stage performance art. Karen fuels her unconventional life in art and love (she stays married to her college sweetheart) with intemperate adventures and travels. A passionate writer and blogger, she recently publishing her prose and poetry on her blog, RudeWoke. Visit www.karenkohler.com for info on concerts, workshops and events.

The Rudewoke Sessions with Broadway star, Luba Mason

By |2023-01-03T13:32:37-05:00November 20th, 2020|News & Events, Rudewoke Podcast|

The simpler things get, the deeper you can dive into them. ~ Luba Mason This time on The RudeWoke Sessions, I welcome American singer, actress, musician and songwriter, Luba Mason, as my guest. We recorded our inspiring chat on October 29, 2020 in Manhattan just a week before the release of her third solo album, Triangle. I hope [...]

Centering in Uncertainty

By |2020-05-17T12:15:39-04:00May 17th, 2020|Guided Meditation, News & Events|

Welcome to my newest guided meditation, Centering in Uncertainty. Everything is uncertainty. Therein lies the great propeller, the desire and drive for meaning and meaningfulness. We are alive in uncertainty and afloat in the unknown, the unforeseen, the mystery. If there's one thing we can really be sure of, it's that we really can't be sure. And for the [...]

The Rudewoke Sessions has launched!

By |2022-07-24T16:07:27-04:00April 3rd, 2020|Key Dates, News & Events, Rudewoke Podcast|

I proudly announce the launch of my podcast, The Rudewoke Sessions! Find me in conversation with creatives of all kinds, getting inside the un-curated story of their lives to reveal the defining moment that changed everything and set them on their paths as passionate artists, scientists, entrepreneurs, activists, explorers and more. We have to wake up before we can [...]

I Sing You a Song of Winter

By |2020-04-29T15:43:19-04:00March 18th, 2020|Prose & Poetry, Writing|

I SING YOU A SONG OF WINTER I sing you a song of winter. Of withdrawal and retreat. The seeds that we planted in the fall are frozen in the earth. Safe from the winds that would scatter and destroy them. The path is deepening. What stays, what goes. What falls off in decay of the old, tired way. [...]

So Long You 20-Teens

By |2020-04-29T15:40:48-04:00December 31st, 2019|Prose & Poetry, Writing|

LUCKY GRAIL Oh mended bone Oh key, oh throne Oh sprawling land of in-betweens Of yeses and of might-have-beens At decade's end I raise my glass You were a kicker in the ass I wipe the curses from my brow You know I loved you anyhow And from the threshold of regret I say, screw you, I'm not through [...]

Performance in “A Wery Weimar Christmas”

By |2022-07-25T15:20:05-04:00December 16th, 2019|Key Dates, News & Events|

On Monday, DECEMBER 16, 2019, Kim David Smith and pianist Tracy Stark returned to Club Cumming in the East Village with a holiday treat, "A Wery Weimar Christmas." Yours Truly made a guest appearance! "His Weimar mother, muse & chanteuse Karen Kohler brought the house down with laughter singing Surabaya Santa - a paean to the trials of being [...]

You in the Key of Mastery

By |2022-08-10T19:15:20-04:00October 7th, 2019|Life Arts, News & Events, Stagecraft|

Dear Creatives and Artists of Life! Announcing new coaching for a new decade! To usher out this decade and welcome a new one, I'm offering a complementary 30-minute consultation and new pricing to private students of my methodology in Stagecraft and Lifecraft.  Join me in my Brooklyn studio or via Skype, and together we'll tailor a curriculum that meets [...]

Silent Grief

By |2020-04-30T17:26:40-04:00September 11th, 2019|Prose & Poetry, Writing|

Every year around this time, I glance from my Brooklyn rooftop at night to see the blue spears of light emanating from lower Manhattan. Today, on the 18th anniversary of 9-11, I locate the journal entry I wrote the day after the attacks. This bit of prose was later published in a collaborative book project benefitting the 9-11 Fund. [...]

Go to Top