KCB Youth Soloists -  Where are they now?

2004 – Will Karsten, Tuba, Kalamazoo Christian High School

2004 KCB Spring Concert Program Notes

Will Karsten is an eighteen year old senior at Kalamazoo Christian High School.  He is the son of Jack and Joanne Karsten, and the second of five children, all brass players.  He is planning on attending Calvin College in the fall and possibly majoring in music and business.  Will has always been interested in the tuba.  One of his earliest musical influences was his Uncle Gary Butterly, former principal tuba in the United State Coast Guard Band.  Will started playing the euphonium in fifth grade at East Christian Elementary School in a band taught by his dad.  The next year he switched to tuba.

In seventh grade Will started taking lessons from Mr. Michael Shannon.  Also in seventh grade, his sister Helen and he got involved in the pit orchestra for a Comstock Community Children’s Theater production of “Annie.”  That, along with the many Kalamazoo Symphony and other instrumental concerts he attended as a child, really got him interested in music.  He especially loved going backstage after concerts to find his dad in the horn section and talk to the other musicians.  Currently he is studying with Mr. Robert Whaley.

Will has received all Division 1 ratings at district and state Solo & Ensemble contests and is in his fifth year in the Kalamazoo Junior Symphony Orchestra and the KJSO Brass Quintet.  He attended Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp twice and received an Outstanding Camper Award.  In addition, Will also attended Seminar at WMU three times.  Will has attended Knollcrest Music Camp at Calvin College every year since seventh grade.

Recently Will enlisted in the National Guard and is now a member of the 126 Army Band in Wyoming, Michigan.  He will be going to Basic Training this summer and will be in the National Guard for the next six years.

On four occasions Will has played on the Bravo! program on WMUK, once as a soloist and three times with the KJSO Brass Quintet.  He was recently selected as a Youth Soloist with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra and played three concerts in February 2004.  In addition to playing tuba, Will is on Kalamazoo Christian High’s varsity basketball team and is a library aide at the Eastwood Branch of the Kalamazoo Library.  Will likes to read, watch movies, work on cars, play with his standard poodle Maximus, and listen to all sorts of music.

Where Is He Now

Will is attending Calvin College in Grand Rapids and is working toward a K-12 Instrumental Music Education degree with an additional concentration in Tuba Performance.  He is currently in his fourth year at Calvin, and will have another full year as a super senior during the 2008-2009 school year.  Will won an opportunity to perform a concerto with the Calvin Orchestra during his sophomore year, and recently played a joint recital in partial fulfillment of the requirements of a Tuba Performance concentrate.

Will is also a member of the 126 Army Band of the Michigan National Guard where he plays in the Concert Band and Brass Quintet.  The 126 Army Band had the honor of participating in President Ford’s funeral in Grand Rapids.  (The band played when the casket was brought to the museum, when it left the museum to go to the church for the funeral, and again when it was brought back to the museum for the actual internment. “It was quite an honor and a moving experience,” Will said.)

Will is considering a full-time career in an active duty Army band.  He is also looking forward to getting married in June of 2009.

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