Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and former Ithaca College School of Music faculty member Karel Husa will be inducted into the national music honor fraternity Pi Kappa Lambda during a free concert by the Ithaca College Wind Ensemble on Tuesday, October 16.
Beginning at 8:15 p.m. in Ford Hall in the James J. Whalen Center for Music, the performance will include "Cheetah," Husa's new work for winds, as well as music by Mozart, Hindemith, and Welcher.
Stephen Peterson will conduct. Robert Glidden, a national regent of the Pi Kappa Lambda, will preside at the ceremony.
On Monday, October 15, Husa will give a free talk about his life in music. The event will begin at 8:15 p.m. in the Hockett Family Recital Hall in the Whalen Center.
Born in Prague and now an American citizen, Husa is an internationally known composer and conductor. He taught composition at Ithaca College from 1967 to 1986 and was the Kappa Alpha Professor of Music Emeritus at Cornell University.
Husa's compositions have won him many honors, including a Pulitzer Prize in 1969 for his "String Quartet No. 3." In 1995 he was awarded the Czech Republic's highest civilian honor -- the State Medal of Merit, First Class -- which was presented to him by Czech Republic president Vaclav Havel.
Ithaca College and the School of Music have also honored Husa by creating the Karel Husa Visiting Professor of Composition. Established in 1987, this position brings an eminent composer to campus every year. The program has enabled student composers to work with such luminaries as Samuel Adler, Libby Larsen, and Christopher Rouse.
Husa, in turn, has honored the college by donating his original manuscripts and correspondence, which are housed in the Karel Husa Archive in the School of Music.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20071008094554796