Caroline Hartig
An acclaimed clarinet soloist and recording artist, CAROLINE HARTIG has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia and has appeared as soloist with orchestras and contemporary-music ensembles in major concert halls in New York City, including Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall (where she made her solo debut), Merkin Concert Hall, and the Fritz Reiner Center for Contemporary Music and Symphony Hall (Boston).
Hartig has performed as a guest artist for the International Clarinet Association and has been heard on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition. She may be heard on the solo compact disc Clarinet Brilliante (Centaur Records 2572) honored as a “Critics’ Choice” by the American Record Guide; “Hartig dazzles with numbing, blazing fluidity and rich, luxuriant fervor…coiled virtuosity.” In an Overview of Woodwind Recordings, ARG cited Clarinet Brilliante as one of the “best of the best” for the performance of clarinet solo recital literature… “For some sweet-sounding barnburners, Caroline Hartig weaves a spellbinding recital.” Also selected as “Editor’s Choice” by Clarinet & Saxophone Magazine of Great Britain, Hartig’s artistry is described as “positively breathtaking in its scope and performance.” Her compact disc Clarinet Brilliante II (Centaur 2808) was praised by American Record Guide noting, “The playing is mastery itself…”
Widely recognized and sought after for numerous new-music collaborations, Hartig has premiered and performed solo clarinet works by leading contemporary composer including Pulitzer-Prize winners William Bolcom and Donald Martino. She can be heard on the compact disc Dancing Solo (Innova 512) featuring the solo and chamber clarinet works of composer Libby Larsen. “It is in Dancing Solo that Ms. Hartig really demonstrates her musicality and prodigious technique…simply virtuosic”(The Clarinet). Hartig’s latest CD Chalumeau (Centaur 2965) is comprised of benchmark contemporary unaccompanied solo clarinet works including Edison Denisov, Sonate, Ida Gotkovsky, Sonate, Leslie Bassett, Soliloquies, Janos Komives, Flammes, Franco Donatoni, Clair and Bolcom’s “Chalumeau” commissioned and premiered by Hartig in Tokyo, Japan and published by Hal Leonard. “There’s a staggering virtuosity to the compositions here, and Hartig brings a primal energy to her interpretations of these solo pieces for clarinet….” (Jim Macnie, Village Voice) In addition to an active solo and recording career, Hartig is demand as a master teacher and clinician and has served as a juror for numerous performance competitions including the International Clarinet Association Young Artist Competition and has been a guest clinician at the International Midwest Band and Orchestra Conference. She is an artist/faculty for the Vianden International Music Festival, Luxembourg and a faculty leader for clarinet master classes at the Centro Studi Carlo della Giacoma in Todi, Italy. Hartig is currently Professor of Clarinet at Michigan State University. A Buffet Crampon artist and clinician, Hartig performs on the Buffet Festival clarinet. As a Vandoren Performing Artist Caroline Hartig endorses and performs on Vandoren reeds and mouthpieces. For more information visit www.CarolineHartig.com