Clarinet

Burt Hara

principal clarinet
I.A. O'Shaughnessy Chair

In 20 years as the Minnesota Orchestra’s principal clarinet, Burt Hara has drawn acclaim for his solo appearances—in works of Nielsen, Debussy, Weber, Copland, Bernstein and others—and many chamber performances. In recent seasons he has been featured on Orchestra programs playing Messiaen’s Abyss of the Birds, from Quartet for the End of Time, Copland’s Clarinet Concerto, Mozart’s Sinfonia concertante and Bernstein’s Sonata for Clarinet and Orchestra. At the 2009 Sommerfest he played Mozart's Clarinet Concerto; in November 2009 he performed Crusell’s Second Clarinet Concerto.

Before his appointment in Minnesota, Hara was principal clarinet of the Alabama Symphony. He also served for one year as principal clarinet of the Philadelphia Orchestra and has appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Tucson Symphony, Fargo-Moorhead Symphony, Monterey Symphony, Cedar Rapids Symphony and Colonial Symphony.

An active chamber musician, Hara has performed at the Aspen Music Festival, Pensacola Chamber Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, La Jolla Music Society SummerFest, and Sommerfest.

Hara has been a faculty member at the University of Alabama and University of Montevallo and currently serves on the faculty of the University of Minnesota School of Music. As a guest lecturer and clinician, Hara has presented master classes at the Curtis Institute, Duquesne University, East Carolina University, Grand Teton Orchestral Training Seminar, New World Symphony, Northwestern University, Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium, University of Missouri-Kansas City, University of Southern California, West Coast Clarinet Symposium, Minnesota Youth Symphonies and Yale University, among others.

A native of California, Hara earned a bachelor of music degree in 1984 from Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music, where his principal teachers were Donald Montanaro, Yehuda Gilad and Mitchell Lurie.