Born and raised in Queens, New York, Audrey Kunkler is the daughter of a French mother and a Romanian father. Her parents studied music in their childhood in Europe until WWII, then immigrated to the USA in the ‘40s. Audrey was born in the late ‘50s, and she remembers that there was always music in their home, and the family attended many music events in New York. Her uncle was a piano teacher, and her aunt was a harpist for the New York Metropolitan Opera for many years, and at 86 she still teaches and performs with small groups. Audrey attended several of her aunt’s concerts, but though she loves many genres of music, opera was never one of them, and her aunt remains baffled as to how anyone could not love opera!
Audrey began playing the piano at age eight and started lessons with her uncle. She felt it was more of a chore then, but in her teens, music became an important outlet for her. She grew to love all the beautiful songs and melodies she encountered. Music touched her soul and elicited a deep emotional response, as it does for many people. It gave her joy, and at the same time, it was a form of therapy. In addition to the piano, in middle school, Audrey learned to play the flute and joined the school band, where she participated in several band performances. Although she continued taking private flute lessons through high school and college, one of her middle school science teachers encouraged her to pursue a science career. She has a BS in Chemistry from the Polytechnic Institute of New York (now NYU).
Early in her career, Audrey worked as a chemist for the Department of Defense and then switched to Environmental Science. She then became the regional business development manager for an environmental consulting firm. She retired in 2022 and joined the AMSF in 2023, on the recommendation of her piano teacher Helen Weems in Columbia, MD. Helen had heard about the AMSF from one of her other adult piano students and felt the organization would provide good exposure, so she encouraged Audrey to join. Audrey wanted to overcome her fear of performing in public, and she also wished to meet other musicians and enjoy new experiences with people of similar interests. The AMSF met both goals. Though not yet fully comfortable with performing in front of others, Audrey has been an active member and participates regularly in Prelude recitals. As a member of the AMSF, she particularly likes meeting fellow members and attending the various special events and seminars, where she has had the opportunity to learn from professionals.
Apart from the AMSF, Audrey enjoys attending various performances by Chamber Music Maryland, Bach in Baltimore, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, to which she and her husband have subscribed for over 30 years. They have even attended local jazz and pop music concerts. Her favorite composers are JS Bach, George Frederick Handel, and Antonio Vivaldi, because she first fell in love with music of the Baroque period (1600–1750). She enjoys the unique harmonies and melodies of that era, as well as the counterpoint in the more complex pieces. More recently, she has gravitated toward later composers like Frederic Chopin, Claude Debussy, Aaron Copland, Felix Mendelssohn, and George Gershwin. Audrey makes the time to practice every day on her Grotrian upright piano, which she loves. She purchased it locally a few years ago. It is a German piano with a rich warm tone that is often preferred for music of the Romantic period (1820–1910). It has a unique star-shaped wooden back frame that allows for increased soundboard vibration that makes it sound more like a Grand piano.
In addition to music, Audrey’s hobbies include travel, reading, healthy cooking, and volunteer work with the needy. She also enjoys spending time with her daughter (who is an anesthesiologist) and her grandchildren who live on the Gulf Coast. Because several members of her family are musicians by vocation, Audrey’s advice to aspiring musicians is to “attend the best school you can for your instrument, and network with as many in the field as possible. Your next gig or job is likely to come from networking.”