Kaeren Steele Fouts
MUSIC DIRECTOR
Kaeren began piano studies at the age of 4 in Yakima, WA, under the guidance of her grandparents and other wonderful teachers. Inspired by her grandfather who was organist at First Presbyterian Church for 28 years, she also began organ studies when she was finally “tall enough to reach all the pedals” in 7th grade under the coaching of one of the nuns and Monseigneur John Ecker of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Yakima where she became the organist during her middle, high school, and some post-college years. She received a music scholarship to WSU in Pullman and was a double performance major in both piano and pipe organ. Kaeren was also offered scholarships at Whitman in Walla Walla and San Francisco State University in conjunction with San Francisco Conservatory.
Kaeren married James Fouts of Yakima and they moved to Hawaii in1969 where she turned toward using her piano abilities to perform mostly classical music in formal dining rooms. She continued nonstop in that career for over 21 years in both Hawaii and the Puget Sound Region where they moved with their baby son, Christopher, in 1989. During her time in Seattle, she was granted private study with Bela Siki, chair of the piano department at UW for 2 years. In 2008 she pursued her lifelong dream of studying violin and has been a violinist with Thalia Symphony Orchestra for 16 years. In 2019 she performed a U.S. Premiere of the Erzsebet Szonyi organ concerto with the symphony deeming the 79 pages of organ music to be the most difficult piece she has ever played. She still commutes weekly for rehearsals in early fall and spring. A former passion of dancing (ballet, jazz, hip hop, and mostly tap, and Irish hard shoe – Riverdance) had to be abandoned after 25 years when several back surgeries forced the decision.
Kaeren and James moved back to Yakima in early January 2023 and live happily in West Valley. She finds returning to playing the organ and classical music on the piano again a dream and is joyful to share her love of music at Englewood Christian Church.
