Roger Kaza, horn and Patti Wolf, piano

This event is part of the Danforth University Center - Chamber Series.

Free and open to the public.

Roger Kaza is principal horn of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, and principal horn of the Chautauqua Symphony in upstate New York. He has previously held positions with the Houston Symphony, the Vancouver Symphony, the Boston Symphony, and the Boston Pops, where he was solo horn under John Williams. A native of Portland, Oregon, he attended Portland State University, studying with Christopher Leuba, and later transferred to the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he received a Bachelor of Music with Honors in 1977 under the tutelage of Thomas E. Newell, Jr. Kaza’s musical activities are wide-ranging. The son of two musicians, growing up in a musical family, he received his early training on piano, giving two solo recitals on that instrument before concentrating on horn. He has studied composition with the Czech-American composer Tomas Svoboda, and conducting with Leonard Slatkin, Gunther Schuller, and Murry Sidlin. He has conducted over 40 concerts with the Houston Symphony under the auspices of its Community Connections outreach program, giving concerts in schools, churches, homeless shelters and retirement homes.

As an educator, Kaza has served on the faculty of the University of Houston, the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, and has previously taught at the Saint Louis Conservatory, University of Missouri-St. Louis, Southern Illinois University, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and given master classes at the University of Michigan, University of Iowa, University of British Columbia, Southern Methodist University, University of Southern Mississippi, the Eastman school of music, and others. Students from his many years of teaching fill orchestral positions worldwide, including principal players in major U.S. symphonies, and chamber groups such as the Canadian Brass. In addition, he has been engaged as guest artist and performer for the International Horn Society, most recently the symposium in San Francisco. He is the writer/ producer and performer on the instructional CD, Audition: Improbable, and contributor to the syndicated NPR radio show “Engines of Our Ingenuity.”

Kaza has appeared as soloist with many orchestras, including the Saint Louis, Vancouver, and Houston Symphonies, and the Carlos Chavez Chamber Orchestra in Mexico City. A frequent chamber musician as well, he has appeared at numerous summer venues, including the Bravo! Vail Valley Festival, Music in the Mountains, Chamber Music Northwest, Mainly Mozart, Aspen and Marrowstone festivals. He presently serves as instructor of horn at the Chautauqua Institution’s Music School.

An avid bicyclist, hiker, and whitewater rafter, Kaza is especially fond of the horn in its “original” setting: out-of-doors. A performance of Olivier Messiaen’s Interstellar Call, from “From the Canyons to the Stars,” recorded at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, was personally critiqued by the composer shortly before his death in 1992. Kaza testifies—from personal experience—that a Conn 8-D in its case will float, at least temporarily. Roger is married to the pianist Patti Wolf and they have two daughters, ages 8 and 15.

PATTI WOLF

Since being selected at age nineteen as the youngest competitor in the prestigious 1985 Van Cliburn Competition, Patti Wolf has been in demand as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician, playing with many of the world’s most distinguished artists. Among the last are collaborations with concertmasters Glenn Dicterow of the New York Philharmonic, Andreas Cardenas of the Pittsburgh Symphony, recital appearances with the Chicago Symphony’s principal horn, Dale Clevenger, and collaboration with the renowned horn soloist Hermann Baumann. In August of 2004, Ms. Wolf made her debut in Chautauqua playing a duo piano recital with Peter Frankl. Subsequently, she has appeared with the Audubon Quartet, flautist Carol Wincenc, and cellist Lynn Harrell. As a soloist she has appeared with the Saint Louis Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Portland Youth Philharmonic, and has performed under the batons of Leonard Slatkin, Catherine Comet, Raymond Leppard, and many others. 

As a collaborative pianist, Ms. Wolf has been invited to several International Brass Conferences in Chicago, Kansas City, and San Fransciso, and she has performed in recital at the University of Michigan, Northwestern University, Westminster College, the Eastman School, and the University of Iowa. Summer engagements have taken her to the Marrowstone Festival, the Cactus Pear Festival, Strings in the Mountains, and the Aspen Music Festival, where she worked as an accompanying fellow. Ms. Wolf’s numerous awards and honors include the Kosciuzko Chopin Competition, the American Music Scholarship Association, and the Yale Alumni Association Award. A scholarship student of Jane Allen at the Saint Louis Conservatory, she later worked with Joseph Kalichstein at the Julliard School, receiving a Bachelor of Music in 1987, followed by graduate work at the Yale School of Music under Peter Frankl, Claude Frank, and Boris Berman, receiving her Master’s degree in 1989. In 2001 she joined the staff at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University as a collaborative pianist, and recently she served as visiting professor of piano at Washington University in St. Louis. In April she was featured at the historic Sheldon Concert Hall’s classical series. Currently she is a regular pianist for the Saint Louis Symphony, the Chautauqua Symphony, the Chamber Music Society of Saint Louis, and maintains an active private studio.

For more information:
(314) 935-5566 or daniels@wustl.edu