Kara Huber
The University of Wyoming Department of Music will present acclaimed pianist Kara
Huber in a special recital featuring the complete solo piano works of Pulitzer Prize
and multiple Grammy Award-winning American composer Joan Tower.
Huber’s performance will take place in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts
recital hall Thursday, Oct. 23, at 7:30 p.m. and is free and open to all.
The recital, titled “From Twelve-Tone Crowd to Risk-Taker,” offers a chronological
journey through Tower's repertoire, highlighting her progression from a rigorous serialist
to a composer with a more accessible and colorful voice.
The performance will trace Tower’s compositional arc, from her early 12-tone pieces
influenced by composers, including Stravinsky, to her more lyrical and rhythmically
charged later works. The program will feature major multimovement pieces, such as
“No Longer Very Clear” and deeply personal miniatures including “Love Letter,” a recent
work dedicated to Tower’s late husband.
Huber’s insightful interpretations of Tower’s work have earned high praise from critics
and the composer herself. A longtime champion of Tower’s music, Huber recently released
a critically acclaimed album of the same works.
Huber, a Grammy-nominated Canadian American pianist and conductor, is quickly establishing
herself as a celebrated member of the new class of concert pianists. Hailed as “absolutely
dazzling … in a word, flawless” (New York Concert Review) in her Carnegie Hall debut,
Huber combines the polish and warmth of an old-school soloist with the charisma and
flair of the new generation of piano virtuoso.
Huber has performed across North America, Europe and Australia, including solo appearances
at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; the Piano Virtuoso Series at the Canadian
Opera Company; the Rising Stars Piano Series in Southampton, N.Y.; and the Steinway
Series at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. An in-demand recitalist, she seeks
to excite and delight diverse audiences through creative and engaging programming.
On the orchestral stage, Huber has performed with the Louisville Orchestra, San Juan
Symphony, Oakville Symphony, Scarborough Philharmonic and York Symphony Orchestra.
She has worked under the baton of renowned conductors Charles Dutoit, Gerard Schwarz,
Teddy Abrams, Thomas Heuser and Denis Mastromonaco, in addition to conducting and
performing with the Canadian Chamber Orchestra.
Huber has received numerous prizes and awards, including the Audience Favorite Award in the Cincinnati World Piano Competition. She received training from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music with Frank Weinstock and Awadagin Pratt, and at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music with John Perry and Leon Fleisher. She holds a DMA in piano and conducting from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and previously taught at the University of Louisville School of Music. Huber currently serves as the Marjorie Wood Drackett Chair of Piano at the Interlochen Arts Academy.
