Kari Zamora

Mrs. Zamora is originally from Tustin Michigan and started playing the violin at age 4 through the area Suzuki program. Mrs. Zamora also plays flute and piano and made both All-State band and orchestra while attending Pine River High School.

Mrs. Zamora attended Hope College in Holland, Michigan where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Music in Instrumental Education, and the University of Florida where she received a Master of Music in Music Theory graduating with a 4.0. While at the University of Florida, her graduate thesis connecting serialism to passacaglias won first place in the Fine Arts Graduate Student Forum.

​Mrs. Zamora also enjoys composing and has written many of the UIL sight-reading pieces for the state of Texas over the past twelve years. She is enthusiastic about the pedagogy of music theory and wrote the theory series, “Music Theory for Strings” which has sold several thousands of copies nationwide. In 2007, Mrs. Zamora was selected as the Tex-ASTA Marjorie Keller Outstanding Young String Educator in Texas Award and was a quarterfinalist for the Music Educator Grammy in 2012. She has been a member of TMEA, serving multiple times as region middle school coordinator, and is also a member of ASTA, TMAA, and TODA. This year will be Mrs. Zamora’s twenty-sixth year to teach and her nineteenth year at Faubion and currently serves as the Fine Arts/Electives Department Chair. While at Faubion, the orchestras have earned consistent UIL Sweepstakes Awards and been a frequent National or Commended Winner in the Mark of Excellence competition. In 2015 the full orchestra was the TMEA Honor Full Orchestra coming in 1st in the state, and in 2018, the Honors Orchestra came in 5th in the State String Competition. In 2016 and 2023, the Faubion Honors Orchestra was invited to perform at the prestigious Midwest Clinic in Chicago.

​Prior to teaching at Faubion, she taught in the Bark River-Harris (Michigan) Schools for two years, as well as started the orchestra programs at Downing Middle School and Durham Middle School in Lewisville ISD. Aside from her music-related hobbies, she enjoys spending time traveling with her husband and ten-year old daughter, as well as reading, cycling, and watching hockey and college football.