New York City-based musician, producer, and activist, Loki Karuna (formerly Garrett McQueen) began his career as a bassoonist, performing with ensembles including the South Arkansas Symphony, Jackson Symphony, American Youth Symphony, Memphis Repertory Orchestra, the Eroica Ensemble, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, the Southeast Symphony, the Artosphere and Gateways Festival Orchestras, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Louisville Orchestra, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. With a desire to "decolonize" American classical music, he later transitioned away from the performance stage and into digital and broadcast media, being heard as a radio host in all 50 states, with direct partners including WUOT, American Public Media, KNVO, WDAV, Texas Public Radio, and countless others. Loki has also appeared in a wide array of television programs, including Oxygen's "Snapped: Killer Couples", TV One's "Fatal Attraction", and Fox's "Glee".
photo: Devon Fails
Syndicated radio programming and series created by Loki include "The Sound of 13", "Noteworthy", "Gateways Radio", and "The Sounds of Kwanzaa". Away from the airwaves, Loki offers guest lectures, presentations, and equity training at the intersections of race, culture, Black liberation, and classical music, with past collaborators including the Gateways Music Festival, the Sphinx Organization, the Kennedy Center, the Apollo Theater, Black Music Experience, the Minnesota Music Teachers Association, New Music Gathering, and the MacPhail Center for Music. Recent college, university, and conservatory guest lecture partners include Yale University, the Manhattan School of Music, Freie Universität Berlin, the Peabody Institute, Cornell University, the University of Memphis, the University of Southern California, and the University of Minnesota, Duluth. In the press, Loki has been noted as not only a "classical agitator", but also "a Black talent in public media that you may not know, but should". In 2021, the New York Times noted his weekly podcast, TRILLOQUY, as a standout and one that is "required listening for industry leaders and listeners alike." In 2024, Loki became a recipient of the Sphinx Organization's MPower Artist Grants for is work in broadcast and digital media.
Loki holds a Bachelor of Music in Bassoon Performance from the University of Memphis, where he studied with Lecolion Washington, and a Master of Music in Bassoon Performance from the University of Southern California, where he studied with Judith Farmer. He continues to work as a performing bassoonist and narrator, in addition to serving as the Executive Producer and host of the TRILLOQUY podcast, President of TrillWerks Media, and the Director of Artist Equity for the American Composers Orchestra. Loki serves on the board of directors for the American Composers Forum, Lyrica Baroque, the Lakes Area Music Festival, Decolonizing the Music Room, and the Cedar Cultural Center, and maintains leadership and artistic advisory positions with the Black Opera Alliance and the Gateways Music Festival. Loki is a practitioner of Nichiren Buddhism, supporting the Bridgeview district of Soka Gakkai International, and spends his free time studying Black history and Eastern philosophy, eating plant-based cuisine, and enjoying life with his partner, Dell.