CCM Hosts Pulitzer Prize-Winning Composer Karel Husa

The

University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music

celebrates the prolific career of

Pulitzer Prize-winning Czech composer Karel Husa

with two concerts highlighting his work on

Wednesday, Oct. 18 and Thursday, Oct. 19

, both at 8 p.m. in CCM's Corbett Auditorium.

Husa will spend a week at CCM as composer-in-residence, working with student ensembles and participating in a celebratory concert in honor of his 85th birthday this past summer.

On Wednesday, Oct. 18, Rodney Winther, CCM's director of wind studies, leads the CCM Chorale (Richard Sparks, conductor), the Xavier University Concert Choir (Tom Merrill, conductor), Percussion Group Cincinnati and the CCM Wind Symphony in a performance of An American Te Deum, a 45-minute vocal-symphonic piece written by Husa in 1977. Also to be performed that night are Husa's Concerto for Percussion and Smetana Fanfare.

CCM's Symphonic Band, under the direction of Professor of Music Terence Milligan, celebrates with more of Husa's music on Thursday, Oct. 19, when the ensemble performs his Al Fresco and his most well-know composition, Music for Prague: 1968, written in protest of the Soviet invasion and subsequent occupation of Czechoslovakia. Banned by the Communist government, the piece was not heard in Czechoslovakia until 1990, when Husa returned to his home country to conduct a performance that was broadcast on Czech radio and television.

Karel Husa
Karel Husa was born in Prague in 1921. He studied the violin and piano as a young child and in 1939, he enrolled in the Prague Conservatoire, where he received critical acclaim for his compositions. In 1947, he moved to Paris and continued his studies at L'ecole normale de musique de Paris and at Conservatoire de Musique de Paris. After the coup d'etat in Czechoslovakia in 1948, Husa did not return to his home country, and in 1954 he accepted a position at Cornell University. He became a United States citizen in 1959.

Husa's arrival in the United States marked the beginning of his most prolific period, and he stayed at Cornell for the remainder of his academic career, writing over 40 compositions and winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1969 for his Third String Quartet. He is best known for scores, such as Music for Prague: 1968, that combine brilliant orchestration and formal invention with an emotional depth that is based his political and humanitarian concerns.

Husa taught composition, conducting and orchestration at Cornell until his retirement in 1992 and appeared frequently as a guest conductor with major orchestras in Europe and America. In addition to wining the Pulitzer Prize in 1969, Husa is the recipient of two Guggenheim Fellowships (1964, 1965), the Friedheim Award of the Kennedy Center (1983) and the Grawemeyer Award (1993). He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1994 and was awarded the Gold Medal of Merit of the Czech Republic in 1995.

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University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
CCM HOSTS COMPOSER KAREL HUSA

Description:  
Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Karel Husa visits CCM for the week of Oct. 16-20. On Wednesday, Oct. 18, Rodney Winther conducts the CCM  Wind Symphony, CCM Chorale, Xavier University Concert Choir and  Percussion Group Cincinnati in a performance of Husa's An American Te  Deum, Concerto for Percussion and Smetana Fanfare. On Thursday,  Oct. 19, the CCM Symphony Band (Terence Milligan, conductor),  performs Husa's Music for Prague: 1968 and Al Fresco.
 
Dates & Times: 
Wednesday, Oct. 18, 8 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 19, 8 p.m.

Location:  
Corbett Auditorium
University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music

Admission:  
These events are FREE and open to the public.

Parking:
CCM Garage (at the base of Corry Boulevard off Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the University of Cincinnati campus. For additional parking information or directions, please visit  www.ccm.uc.edu.

For Information: 
(513) 556-4183 or www.ccm.uc.edu