Karolina Rojahn

Karolina is a Los Angeles-based concert pianist, recording artist, and multi-genre composer whose artistry spans classical and contemporary realms. Through both tradition and experimentation, she creates music that serves as a vessel for presence, healing, and the unfolding of inner worlds—bridging centuries-old practices with forward-thinking soundscapes that expand the boundaries of genre and form.

Performing for many years under her classical name, Karolina Rojahn, she established herself as a leading interpreter of contemporary classical music. She has premiered over a hundred new works and released 44 albums of solo and chamber music, including five piano concertos written for her, with recordings on prominent labels such as Naxos. An active presence in the international classical scene, she has performed widely across Europe and the U.S., collaborating with composers and chamber musicians on premieres, recordings, and live performances that have shaped today’s modern repertoire.

Now composing and performing under the name Karolina Kalo, she brings her classical foundation into a new realm—writing original music that blends neoclassical piano with ambient electronic textures. Her work explores the intersection of sound and inner experience, often presented in immersive, interdisciplinary contexts.

A central part of her current artistic journey is Cor Karoli, a genre-defying musical duo formed with electronic artist Tristan de Liège. Together, they create a refined sonic dialogue between classical tradition and electronic innovation, weaving ambient piano, neoclassical harmony, and textural electronics into a sound rooted in deep listening. Their music invites audiences into reflective inner spaces, dissolving genre boundaries in favor of subtlety, nuance, and immersive emotional connection. Their debut album, Becoming, is slated for release in fall 2025.

Karolina’s creative practice reflects a lifelong engagement with visual art and architecture, which she studied alongside music. This background informs her approach to sound as space, movement, and emotional architecture. Her commitment to cross-disciplinary collaboration led her to co-found Merge Collaborative, a Los Angeles-based concert series that ran for four years and brought together artists across music, dance, poetry, and visual media in performances centered around social and political themes.

Born in Poland into an artist family, Karolina studied with esteemed European pianists including Kazimierz Gierzod, Milosz Magin, and Paul Badura-Skoda before relocating to the U.S., where she earned both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Piano Performance from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee as a full-scholarship recipient under the mentorship of Michael Lewin. She also attended the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, studying architecture, sculpture, and printmaking—disciplines that continue to inform her work as a composer and performer.

In addition to her concert and composition work, Karolina has contributed to a number of selected film and television projects as a session pianist, bringing her expressive playing and intuitive sensitivity to cinematic scores and collaborative soundtracks.

While her current focus lies in composing and performing original work as Karolina Kalo, her classical performance career remains active. She continues to perform as a soloist and chamber musician, bringing a depth of interpretation and curiosity to both established and newly written works. Her dual identity allows her to move fluidly between musical worlds—anchored in tradition, yet ever-evolving. 

Karolina previously taught at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee for eight years and continues to teach selectively in Los Angeles.