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EDUCATION
THROUGH ENTERTAINMENT
ABOUT
US
Dynamic
Duo,
formed in
conjunction with the National Symphony Orchestra’s Education
Department, has been performing for schoolchildren since
2005.
Violinist Karen Lowry-Tucker and violist Elizabeth Pulju-Owen, both
members of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, share a love of
music and story telling which they combine to engage and enlighten
young minds. In 2010, cellist/magician, Drew Owen, cello
instructor at Howard University and the Washington Conservatory of
Music, joined forces with Karen and Elizabeth to form Presto!.
Presto! blends music with
magic and storytelling to captivate student
audiences while
introducing them to string instruments, musical concepts and
life
lessons. Dynamic Duo and Presto! have recently joined Fairfax
County's CAPs (Creative Arts Programs), Arlington County's Humanities
Project, and Montgomery County Cultural Arts.
Karen
Lowry-Tucker
is a first violinist with the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, a
position she has held since 1992. She serves as a private
violin
instructor, enjoys solo opportunities and plays in a string
trio.
Hailing from Louisville, KY, she received a Bachelor of Music Education
degree from the University of Louisville. A Masters degree in
Performance from the University of Texas at Austin preceded her journey
to Munich, Germany where she won an audition with the Munich Chamber
Orchestra. Ms. Tucker toured the world with them for two
years.
After returning to the U.S. in 1979, she has dedicated time to exposing
young people to the world of classical music, which is her
passion. Her instrument is a 1783 Antonio Gragnani violin
made in
Livorno, Italy.
Elizabeth
Pulju-Owen,
viola, joined the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra in September,
1998 and also performs with the Baltimore Symphony. Ms.
Pulju-Owen serves as violist for the Gragnani Trio, and for the
educational groups, Dynamic Duo and Presto!, with which she has
performed for thousands of DC public school children in conjunction
with the National Symphony Orchestra’s Education Program.
After
earning a Bachelor of Music degree at the Catholic University of
America, graduating with top honors, Ms. Pulju-Owen began her career
with the Savannah Symphony Orchestra, performing there for one season
before joining the New Orleans Symphony. Subsequently, she
was a
member of the Alabama Symphony, for the 1990-91 season, before
returning to New Orleans to join the Louisiana Philharmonic
Orchestra. She was also a member of the Cypress Quartet of
New
Orleans, in residence at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts.
Drew
Owen, cello,
holds performance degrees from the College Conservatory of Music in
Cincinnati and the Cleveland Institute of Music. In 1989, he joined the
New Orleans Symphony and, after that orchestra's dissolution in 1991,
helped to form the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. A
resident
of Washington, D.C. since 1998, he has performed with the Washington
National Opera and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestras, the
National Symphony Orchestra, and the Baltimore Symphony. Drew is the
cello instructor at Howard University and is a faculty member at the
Washington Conservatory of Music. He has had a life long
interest
in magic and performs for parties and events as the wizard, Professor
Fizzwiffle, and as Musico the Magnificent for the Washington
Conservatory of Music’s Magic of Music series. Find out more
at
Drew's site: www.DrewMagic.com.
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