Karen Monson (1946–1988)

Karen Monson was born in New Haven, Connecticut and raised in Newburgh, New York. She attended Radcliffe College, where she was principal flutist of the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, and won a Fulbright scholarship for graduate study in Berlin. She became music critic of The Chicago Daily News in 1973 and wrote for the paper until it closed in 1978. She also served as music critic for The Los Angeles Herald-Examiner and The Baltimore Sun. She worked as director of the Kerr Cultural Center in Scottsdale, Arizona. Ms. Monson was the author of two books, Alban Berg (1979) and Alma Mahler: Muse to Genius (1983). As a freelance writer, she won a Deems Taylor/ASCAP award for criticism. She was also a host at WFMT-FM, the Chicago classical music radio station, where she won a Peabody award for programs she produced. She died of complications from cirrhosis of the liver at age 42.