Contemporary instrumental performing and recording artist Karen FitzGerald … Read Full Bio ↴Contemporary instrumental performing and recording artist Karen FitzGerald brings together a classically trained technique with a deeply personal musical intuition that comes straight from the heart. Her solo piano compositions range from delicate and soothing to passionate and soul-stirring, evoking the beauty of nature, the subtle shades of human emotion and our ever-present longing for spiritual wholeness.
Making her home in Northwest Washington, Karen finds inspiration for her music in the beauty of the rain, trees, mountains and ocean. According to her hometown newspaper, the Bellingham Herald, "Her soaring compositions are reminiscent of snowstorms and waterfalls. Her musical expression is at once powerful and melodic."
Contemporary instrumental performing and recording artist Karen FitzGerald brings together a classically trained technique with a deeply personal musical intuition that comes straight from the heart. Her solo piano compositions range from delicate and soothing to passionate and soul-stirring, evoking the beauty of nature, the subtle shades of human emotion and a longing for spiritual wholeness. According to her hometown newspaper, the Bellingham Herald, “Her soaring compositions are reminiscent of snowstorms and waterfalls. Her musical expression is at once powerful and melodic.”
Karen’s debut CD, Heart of the Rain, was released in April 1999. Heart of the Rain is nine beautiful piano solos, with tasteful synthesizer enhancement on two tracks. The album was recorded at Triad Studios in Redmond, Washington, and mixed and mastered at Bellingham's Soundings of the Planet Studio. Heart of the Rain begins with the gentle “Remembering,” bringing us back in touch with our hearts. The journey continues expressing the movements of nature, including the wistful “A Rainy Night Outside Your Door” and the energetic “Summer Rain.” The album climaxes with the triumphant “Emergence,” then soothes us to sleep with “Lullaby.”
Karen's musical life began early as she listened to her mother play the classics on the family's baby grand piano. That piano held special fascination for Karen, and at the age of five, she begged her parents for lessons, which initiated twelve years of traditional piano studies emphasizing the classics, music theory, composition and performance. She graduated with honors from the Wilmington Music School in her hometown in Delaware. In college, Karen majored in Physics and Mathematics, but when she needed a break from her studies, she once again found herself drawn to the piano. As she released pent up feelings at the instrument, she learned how to improvise, and began creating her own distinctive musical vocabulary.
Karen then moved to Northwest Washington where she spent the next fifteen years working as a computer programmer. Early in this time period, she discovered several pianists who affected her deeply. "The music of Keith Jarrett opened my mind and expanded my horizons in the world of improvisation. But it was the simple, lyrical lines of George Winston that changed my life and got me started on my path of piano composition. Liz Story’s music was inspirational as well, and her presence as a successful woman pianist-composer provided me with an invaluable role model."
The first fruit of this musical exploration was Karen’s 1987 cassette release, Turquoise Flame. In 1990 her piece, "Remembering" was selected as a winner in the Songwriter's and Musician's Foundation song contest, and in 1994 her piece, "Summer Rain" was featured on a seamless connection, a compilation album of top Northwest Washington songwriters. In 1998 and 1999, three of Karen’s pieces were choreographed by Penelope Coberly Lagios of Bellingham’s Dance Gallery, and were performed live in concert with the dancers. In 2001, Karen collaborated with cellist Janet Peterson of Motherlode to create music for a local production of The Vagina Monologues. In 2002, Karen’s piece “Lullaby” was released by Spring Hill Music on The HeartAid Project, a 9/11 solo piano benefit compilation.
Karen's love of music has also involved her deeply with singing. She has worked with choral groups both large and small in the capacities of director, arranger, and singer, as well as accompanist. She was a co-founder of the dynamic 85-member Kulshan Chorus, and her gospel, country, and jazz piano arrangements dazzled Bellingham audiences for ten years. Karen currently performs with the vocal ensemble, Calyx, and her piano work appears on their 2006 release, Sweet Life. Karen is also experienced in accompanying solo performers, and her playing is featured on folk singer-songwriter Linda Allen's 1991 release, Washington Notebook.
Recently, Karen’s music has begun to find its way into film and television, including The Oprah Winfrey Show and Best Week Ever, as well as background music for numerous promotional videos and web sites. She can be heard on a number of Internet broadcasts, including the popular Whisperings Solo Piano Radio show.
With her second solo CD, Cascade, in the planning stages, Karen FitzGerald is poised for further expansion in her musical career. As Chris Lunn of the Victory Music Review says, “Here is modern, original solo piano ~ clean and crisp at its most lyrical, warm sense... Very fine piano and composition by a woman who should have national stature.”
Discography:
Solo projects:
Turquoise Flame (cassette) – 1987
Heart of the Rain – 1999
Side musician:
Washington Notebook – Linda Allen – 1989
Wake Up in the Moonlight Singing – Equinox – 1998
Sweet Life – Equinox & Calyx – 2006
Compilations:
A Seamless Connection – 1994
The HeartAid Project – 2002
Voices of the Water – 2002
Relaxing Piano Artists for Alzheimer's Research – 2009
Making her home in Northwest Washington, Karen finds inspiration for her music in the beauty of the rain, trees, mountains and ocean. According to her hometown newspaper, the Bellingham Herald, "Her soaring compositions are reminiscent of snowstorms and waterfalls. Her musical expression is at once powerful and melodic."
Contemporary instrumental performing and recording artist Karen FitzGerald brings together a classically trained technique with a deeply personal musical intuition that comes straight from the heart. Her solo piano compositions range from delicate and soothing to passionate and soul-stirring, evoking the beauty of nature, the subtle shades of human emotion and a longing for spiritual wholeness. According to her hometown newspaper, the Bellingham Herald, “Her soaring compositions are reminiscent of snowstorms and waterfalls. Her musical expression is at once powerful and melodic.”
Karen’s debut CD, Heart of the Rain, was released in April 1999. Heart of the Rain is nine beautiful piano solos, with tasteful synthesizer enhancement on two tracks. The album was recorded at Triad Studios in Redmond, Washington, and mixed and mastered at Bellingham's Soundings of the Planet Studio. Heart of the Rain begins with the gentle “Remembering,” bringing us back in touch with our hearts. The journey continues expressing the movements of nature, including the wistful “A Rainy Night Outside Your Door” and the energetic “Summer Rain.” The album climaxes with the triumphant “Emergence,” then soothes us to sleep with “Lullaby.”
Karen's musical life began early as she listened to her mother play the classics on the family's baby grand piano. That piano held special fascination for Karen, and at the age of five, she begged her parents for lessons, which initiated twelve years of traditional piano studies emphasizing the classics, music theory, composition and performance. She graduated with honors from the Wilmington Music School in her hometown in Delaware. In college, Karen majored in Physics and Mathematics, but when she needed a break from her studies, she once again found herself drawn to the piano. As she released pent up feelings at the instrument, she learned how to improvise, and began creating her own distinctive musical vocabulary.
Karen then moved to Northwest Washington where she spent the next fifteen years working as a computer programmer. Early in this time period, she discovered several pianists who affected her deeply. "The music of Keith Jarrett opened my mind and expanded my horizons in the world of improvisation. But it was the simple, lyrical lines of George Winston that changed my life and got me started on my path of piano composition. Liz Story’s music was inspirational as well, and her presence as a successful woman pianist-composer provided me with an invaluable role model."
The first fruit of this musical exploration was Karen’s 1987 cassette release, Turquoise Flame. In 1990 her piece, "Remembering" was selected as a winner in the Songwriter's and Musician's Foundation song contest, and in 1994 her piece, "Summer Rain" was featured on a seamless connection, a compilation album of top Northwest Washington songwriters. In 1998 and 1999, three of Karen’s pieces were choreographed by Penelope Coberly Lagios of Bellingham’s Dance Gallery, and were performed live in concert with the dancers. In 2001, Karen collaborated with cellist Janet Peterson of Motherlode to create music for a local production of The Vagina Monologues. In 2002, Karen’s piece “Lullaby” was released by Spring Hill Music on The HeartAid Project, a 9/11 solo piano benefit compilation.
Karen's love of music has also involved her deeply with singing. She has worked with choral groups both large and small in the capacities of director, arranger, and singer, as well as accompanist. She was a co-founder of the dynamic 85-member Kulshan Chorus, and her gospel, country, and jazz piano arrangements dazzled Bellingham audiences for ten years. Karen currently performs with the vocal ensemble, Calyx, and her piano work appears on their 2006 release, Sweet Life. Karen is also experienced in accompanying solo performers, and her playing is featured on folk singer-songwriter Linda Allen's 1991 release, Washington Notebook.
Recently, Karen’s music has begun to find its way into film and television, including The Oprah Winfrey Show and Best Week Ever, as well as background music for numerous promotional videos and web sites. She can be heard on a number of Internet broadcasts, including the popular Whisperings Solo Piano Radio show.
With her second solo CD, Cascade, in the planning stages, Karen FitzGerald is poised for further expansion in her musical career. As Chris Lunn of the Victory Music Review says, “Here is modern, original solo piano ~ clean and crisp at its most lyrical, warm sense... Very fine piano and composition by a woman who should have national stature.”
Discography:
Solo projects:
Turquoise Flame (cassette) – 1987
Heart of the Rain – 1999
Side musician:
Washington Notebook – Linda Allen – 1989
Wake Up in the Moonlight Singing – Equinox – 1998
Sweet Life – Equinox & Calyx – 2006
Compilations:
A Seamless Connection – 1994
The HeartAid Project – 2002
Voices of the Water – 2002
Relaxing Piano Artists for Alzheimer's Research – 2009
More Genres
No Artists Found
More Artists
Load All
No Albums Found
More Albums
Load All
No Tracks Found
Genre not found
Artist not found
Album not found
Search results not found
Song not found
The Heart of the Prajnaparamita
Karen FitzGerald Lyrics
No lyrics text found for this track.
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
Yan Wang
The Heart Sutra
Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva,
when deeply practicing prajna-paramita, clearly saw that the five skandas are all empty, and was saved from all suffering and distress.
Sariputra,
form is no different to emptiness, emptiness no different to form.
That which is form is emptiness, that which is emptiness, form.
Sensations, perceptions, impressions, and consciousness are also like this.
Sariputra,
all things and phenomena are marked by emptiness;
they are neither appearing nor disappearing, neither impure nor pure,
neither increasing nor decreasing.
Therefore, in emptiness,
no forms, no sensations, perceptions, impressions, or consciousness;
no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind;
no sights, sounds, odors, tastes, objects of touch, objects of mind;
no realm of sight and so on up to no realm of consciousness;
no ignorance and no end of ignorance, and so on up to no aging and death, and no end of aging and death;
no suffering, accumulation, cessation, or path; no wisdom and no attainment.
With nothing to attain, bodhisattvas
rely on prajna-paramita,
and their minds are without hindrance.
They are without hindrance, and therefore without fear.
Far apart from all confused dreams, they dwell in nirvana.
All buddhas of the past, present and future rely on prajna-paramita,
and attain full, complete realization.
Therefore, know that prajna-paramita is the great transcendent mantra, the great bright mantra,
the supreme mantra,
the unequalled balanced mantra, that can eliminate all suffering, and is real, not false.
So proclaim the prajna-paramita mantra, proclaim the mantra that says:
gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, bodhi, svaha!
The Heart Sutra of Prajna.
The Heart Sutra: The full title of this sutra is The Heart of Great Prajna Sutra or The Heart of Great Real Wisdom Sutra (it's called the maka hannya haramita shingyo in Japanese). In Sanskrit it’s called the Maha-prajna-paramita-hrdaya-sutra. It represents the heart of a much longer sutra of 600 volumes called the Maha-prajna-paramita-sutra (The Great Real Wisdom Sutra).
Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva: Avalokitesvara is known as the bodhisattva of compassion and mercy. He is one of the characters in the longer sutra on which the Heart Sutra is based. Avalokitesvara was originally thought of as male, but is usually represented as a female in East Asia. Avalokitesvara is called Kuan-yin in China and Kannon in Japan. A bodhisattva is someone who seeks enlightenment for all people.
Prajna Paramita: Prajna means real wisdom. It's is a very important principle in Buddhism, and the Heart Sutra is devoted to the subject of prajna. In Sanskrit, pra means before or prior to, and jna means knowledge or knowing. So prajna refers to a kind of intuition or intuitive ability. In Buddhism, real wisdom is based on this intuitive ability, and has nothing to do with intellectual knowledge. Zen Buddhists believe that when we develop this intuitive ability by practicing Zazen. When we practice Zazen regularly we can start to notice this intuitive ability occurring naturally in our everyday life. The second word paramita means complete attainment or accomplishment. So prajna-paramita means complete attainment or accomplishment of real wisdom.
Skandas: This is a Sanskrit term for the five elements that make up each person. They five skandas are 1. rupa: bodily form; 2. vedana: sensations; 3. samjna: perceptions; 4. samskara: mental impressions or mental creations; 5. vijnana: consciousness.
Sariputra: Sariputra is the name of one of Gautama Buddha’s ten main disciples. In the Heart Sutra, Gautama Buddha is talking to Sariputra.
Things and phenomena: This is a translation of the word dharma. Dharma has many meanings in Buddhism. Depending on the situation it can refer to the Buddha's
teachings, the universal law behind the Buddha’s teachings, reality itself, or things and phenomena. Here, it refers to things and phenomena.
Emptiness: Emptiness is a translation of the Japanese word ku. It's easy to make the mistake of thinking that the word emptiness suggests that nothing really exists, but that's not the intention. Buddhism believes in the existence of reality, and that all things exist really. The Japanese word ku is a translation of a Sanskrit word sunyata. Sunyata has lots of meanings, including “emptiness”, “bareness” and “as it is”. Here, emptiness means that things are “as they are”.
Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi! Svaha! This part at the end is Sanskrit and is usually chanted just as it is. A literal translation is something like “gone, gone, totally gone, completely gone, perfect wisdom, so be it!”
Ruey Min Lim
@Mark Kurt Much appreciate for Your kind reply.I'm a Chinese,a Mahayana Buddhism born in Myanmar, and I have been four time as a short term Theravada monk in Myanmar.
I can read and spell a lot of Buddha's discourse in Pali laungage.The same Buddhism,although
both path forward
Nibbana ,the emptiness, zero,but I always
wonder why Mahayana mostly mentioned Werstern Paradise seems the highest goal,like sweet sound of screen,birds singing,lux comfort.
In Theravada those are all illusion,
sufferings.Only the high stage of Deva world or Bhraman.I praticed abandon,
withdraw, Vipasana Path.Four noble truth, Eightfold path Maga.(I'm not good in English hope you can read.Thank You)
I'm now living in Taiwan.
Call meh caca
This video is a most beautiful and deeply inspiring rendition of the heart of Buddha's wisdom. My deepest thanks to Karen and others for your gift of music.
Yan Wang
The Heart Sutra
Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva,
when deeply practicing prajna-paramita, clearly saw that the five skandas are all empty, and was saved from all suffering and distress.
Sariputra,
form is no different to emptiness, emptiness no different to form.
That which is form is emptiness, that which is emptiness, form.
Sensations, perceptions, impressions, and consciousness are also like this.
Sariputra,
all things and phenomena are marked by emptiness;
they are neither appearing nor disappearing, neither impure nor pure,
neither increasing nor decreasing.
Therefore, in emptiness,
no forms, no sensations, perceptions, impressions, or consciousness;
no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind;
no sights, sounds, odors, tastes, objects of touch, objects of mind;
no realm of sight and so on up to no realm of consciousness;
no ignorance and no end of ignorance, and so on up to no aging and death, and no end of aging and death;
no suffering, accumulation, cessation, or path; no wisdom and no attainment.
With nothing to attain, bodhisattvas
rely on prajna-paramita,
and their minds are without hindrance.
They are without hindrance, and therefore without fear.
Far apart from all confused dreams, they dwell in nirvana.
All buddhas of the past, present and future rely on prajna-paramita,
and attain full, complete realization.
Therefore, know that prajna-paramita is the great transcendent mantra, the great bright mantra,
the supreme mantra,
the unequalled balanced mantra, that can eliminate all suffering, and is real, not false.
So proclaim the prajna-paramita mantra, proclaim the mantra that says:
gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, bodhi, svaha!
The Heart Sutra of Prajna.
The Heart Sutra: The full title of this sutra is The Heart of Great Prajna Sutra or The Heart of Great Real Wisdom Sutra (it's called the maka hannya haramita shingyo in Japanese). In Sanskrit it’s called the Maha-prajna-paramita-hrdaya-sutra. It represents the heart of a much longer sutra of 600 volumes called the Maha-prajna-paramita-sutra (The Great Real Wisdom Sutra).
Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva: Avalokitesvara is known as the bodhisattva of compassion and mercy. He is one of the characters in the longer sutra on which the Heart Sutra is based. Avalokitesvara was originally thought of as male, but is usually represented as a female in East Asia. Avalokitesvara is called Kuan-yin in China and Kannon in Japan. A bodhisattva is someone who seeks enlightenment for all people.
Prajna Paramita: Prajna means real wisdom. It's is a very important principle in Buddhism, and the Heart Sutra is devoted to the subject of prajna. In Sanskrit, pra means before or prior to, and jna means knowledge or knowing. So prajna refers to a kind of intuition or intuitive ability. In Buddhism, real wisdom is based on this intuitive ability, and has nothing to do with intellectual knowledge. Zen Buddhists believe that when we develop this intuitive ability by practicing Zazen. When we practice Zazen regularly we can start to notice this intuitive ability occurring naturally in our everyday life. The second word paramita means complete attainment or accomplishment. So prajna-paramita means complete attainment or accomplishment of real wisdom.
Skandas: This is a Sanskrit term for the five elements that make up each person. They five skandas are 1. rupa: bodily form; 2. vedana: sensations; 3. samjna: perceptions; 4. samskara: mental impressions or mental creations; 5. vijnana: consciousness.
Sariputra: Sariputra is the name of one of Gautama Buddha’s ten main disciples. In the Heart Sutra, Gautama Buddha is talking to Sariputra.
Things and phenomena: This is a translation of the word dharma. Dharma has many meanings in Buddhism. Depending on the situation it can refer to the Buddha's
teachings, the universal law behind the Buddha’s teachings, reality itself, or things and phenomena. Here, it refers to things and phenomena.
Emptiness: Emptiness is a translation of the Japanese word ku. It's easy to make the mistake of thinking that the word emptiness suggests that nothing really exists, but that's not the intention. Buddhism believes in the existence of reality, and that all things exist really. The Japanese word ku is a translation of a Sanskrit word sunyata. Sunyata has lots of meanings, including “emptiness”, “bareness” and “as it is”. Here, emptiness means that things are “as they are”.
Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi! Svaha! This part at the end is Sanskrit and is usually chanted just as it is. A literal translation is something like “gone, gone, totally gone, completely gone, perfect wisdom, so be it!”
Barbara Singer
Beautifully done.
Under5tandGoBeyond
thank you very much for this... I needed to hear this again
André Pais
Deeply beautiful and magical! thank you!
Gregory Southworth
Beautiful rendition of the Heart Sutra!
Bella Love
This keeps me going everyday 💜💕
falan
This is beautiful.
Ivonne Song
Oh How beautiful, amazing, perfection!!!!
M
Perfection of wisdom.