Biography
Dr Karen Anne Lonsdale holds a Bachelor of Music (Queensland Conservatorium); Graduate Diploma of Music (Queensland Conservatorium); Meisterklassendiplom (Hochschule für Musik in Munich); Graduate Certificate in Education (Queensland University of Technology); Master of Learning and Teaching (with Distinction)(University of Southern Queensland), and a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) (Griffith University).
Karen Lonsdale has performed as an orchestral flautist with the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra (QPO), Queensland Symphony Orchestra (QSO), Queensland Pops Orchestra, Camerata, Sydney Symphony, Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony, North West German Philharmonic and Munich Symphony. She has performed as a soloist with the QSO, QPO, X-Collective, Balmain Sinfonia and Suncoast Sinfonia. She has also played in pit orchestras for the Australian Ballet, Queensland Ballet, Opera Australia, Opera Queensland and for touring productions of the English National Ballet, Royal Ballet, and Operettvilág. She has also appeared with Topology, Southern Cross Soloists, and X-Collective Cabaret Ensemble.
Karen Lonsdale has performed at the Australian Flute Festival, Ipoh Music Festival, Darwin International Guitar Festival, as well as the Lord Mayor’s City Hall Concerts in Brisbane. She was an Artist in Residence at the Kingston Butter Factory (KBF) Cultural Precinct in September 2022.
She was a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Music and Performing Arts, Sultan Idris Education University, Malaysia from 2012-2018. Her research has been published in the Medical Problems of Performing Artists journal, and the Malaysian Music Journal. She has presented her research at conferences in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, UK, and the USA. She has also taught flute at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, University of Southern Queensland, and the University of New South Wales.
Dr Lonsdale is a music examiner for the Australian Music Examinations Board, and a highly experienced flute teacher. Many of her former flute students are now employed as a classroom music, instrumental or independent music teacher, a university music lecturer, professional performer, music researcher, music therapist or arts administrator in Australia. Many of her students attained diplomas such as the Association in Music, Australia (AMusA) and Licentiate in Music, Australia (LMusA) while under her tutelage. She has been a flute teacher in some of the finest school music programmes in Queensland and New South Wales, including Church of England Grammar School (Churchie), Villanova College, Sheldon College, Somerset College, Canterbury College, St Joseph's College (Gregory Terrace), International Grammar School Sydney, Queenwood, St. Andrew’s Cathedral School, and Knox Grammar.
Dr Lonsdale has been an adjudicator for eisteddfods and other music competitions in Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania, as well as in Singapore, and Malaysia. She has also been a peer assessor for both Arts Queensland and Creative Australia. She is currently a Senior Instrumental Music Teacher with Education Queensland, conducting symphonic and concert bands, as well as a jazz orchestra in Redland City.
In 2025 Dr Lonsdale will be performing and giving a lecture at the Australian Flute Festival in Sydney. She is also the Principal Flute of the newly formed Logan City Symphony Orchestra. In 2026, she will be performing and presenting workshops at the Kingston Butter Factory in Logan.