Kari Cruver Medina

Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Kari Cruver Medina grew up on the Puget Sound. It was a nature-lover’s dream. Pods of Orca whales frequented the area and the seashore teamed with life. Summer evenings were frequently spent around a bonfire singing folk songs and show tunes, siblings harmonizing while dad played battered guitar. As a child she basked in this loving, creative environment of nature and song, and its glow continues to inspire and inform her writing.

Medina attended the University of Washington in composition and piano performance and completed her graduate school at Washington State University with Dr. Loran Olsen. She and her husband settled in Seattle, where she worked as a Music Director and they raised two sons. It was when the youngest graduated from high school that she returned to composing full time.

Nature remains Medina’s playground, and when not composing you will find her working in her garden or tramping through the woods: a rake, a book of poetry, and cup of coffee at hand. She loves to travel and savors the opportunity to share the joy of making music with friends across the globe.

Medina has worked as a composer, music director, studio musician, and Emmy-nominated composer for film and television. Her award winning music includes compositions spanning a broad swath of stylistic traditions, including art song, solo and chamber works as well as choral, band, and orchestral compositions. Literature, history, faith, folklore, and the intersection of arts and culture have always intrigued her. These interests reflect in engaging music that is marinated in an imaginative, often whimsical blend of narrative and nature.