Principal Flute

Karen Busler, a native Memphian, holds The Marion Dugdale McClure Principal Flute Chair of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra.  She has been a frequent soloist during her nearly four decade tenure with the MSO as well as performing the major orchestral repertoire for flute. As part of the Symphony, she also plays Principal Flute for Opera Memphis.  

Mrs. Busler is a charter member of the IRIS Orchestra and was a featured soloist in the 2004-2005 season.  She is also a frequent soloist with the Memphis Chamber Music Society. She was the teaching, coaching, and performing Flute Mentor for the Hot Springs Music Festival in Hot Springs, Arkansas from 2001 to 2009 and was the featured soloist with the Festival Orchestra in 2005 performing the Nielsen Flute Concerto. 

Her most highly regarded milestones have been her Benefit Concerts for the International Children’s Heart Foundation (ICHF), as producer, director, coordinator, and featured performer.  Those efforts raised many thousands of dollars for the humanitarian work of the ICHF. 

In addition to her playing responsibilities, Mrs. Busler founded a new concert series, The Assisi Concerts of which she is Executive and Artistic Director, at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church.  

She toured Alaska in 1999 and 2002 with the Rosetta Trio, of which she is a founding member.  She has judged competitions and performed as a member of the National Flute Association.  She is also Life Member of the Renaissance Music Circle.  

Recordings include Symphonic Elvis with the MSO, IRIS, A New Orchestra, vol. 1, and Kallen Esperian’s three CD’s; American Treasure, An Enchanted Reverie, and Lover Come Back.  

Mrs. Busler enjoys coaching advanced students for orchestral, festival, or college auditions.  She is also an active real estate investor, bringing her disciplined focus to another of many interests in her life.  

Mrs. Busler studied with Paul Eaheart at the University of Memphis where she earned her Bachelor of Music degree in Performance with honors.  While at the U of M she won the Concerto Competition and the coveted Performer’s Certificate.  She also studied with the late Murray Panitz, Principal Flutist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and has played in many Master Classes for Jean-Pierre Rampal and Paula Robison.