Biography
Caroline Hartig is Professor of Clarinet at The Ohio State University and presently serves as President of the International Clarinet Association (ICA) An acclaimed clarinet soloist and recording artist, CAROLINE HARTIG has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. She has appeared as soloist with orchestras and contemporary music ensembles and as a recitalist in major concert halls in New York City and abroad including Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, the Fritz Reiner Center for Contemporary Music, Symphony Hall (Boston); Tokyo, Japan; Munich, Germany; and Perugia, Italy. She has performed with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Boston Philharmonic and New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra.
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 stating; “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 along with legendary clarinetists, Harold Wright, David Shifrin and Ricardo Morales. “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 composers 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). Additional collaborations with Larsen include the world premiere of “Bally Deux”; a jazz/classical hybrid double concerto composed for Hartig and jazz clarinetist Eddie Daniels for the International ClarinetFest in New Orleans. Hartig’s CD Chalumeau (Centaur 2965), 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” was commissioned and premiered by Hartig in Tokyo, Japan and is published by Hal Leonard.
Her latest release, CaraClarina: Caroline Hartig plays Classical to Klezmer, Vol. 1, on the Bremen Radio Hall Records label, was recently featured in Fanfare Magazine... “Hartig is, quite simply, an amazing talent, one of the few wind players I’ve heard in the past quarter century who made me like her due to the extraordinarily high quality of her feeling and phrasing.”
Recent appearances include solo performances and master classes at the 8th International Clarinet Festival and Competition in Todi, Italy and as the guest classical clarinetist for Clarinet and Klezmer in the Galilee, Jerusalem, Israel, with concerts in major concert halls throughout Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, culminating with a finale concert at The Holocaust Memorial, Valley of the Communities, Yad Vashem, Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, broadcast live on the radio throughout Israel.
Hartig earned degrees from New England Conservatory (MM), The Ohio State University (BME) and the State University of New York at Stony Brook (DMA). Major teachers and career mentors have included the legendary Harold Wright, Robert Marcellus, Charles Neidich, Michele Zukovsky, George Silfies, Donald McGinnis, Marshall Haddock, David Hite, and renowned pianist Artur Balsam, violinist Roman Totenberg, and flutist Sam Baron.
Previously, Hartig taught at Michigan State University, Ball State University, and Oberlin Conservatory. In addition to an active solo and recording career, she is in demand as a master teacher and clinician and has served as a juror for performance competitions including the International Clarinet Association Young Artist Competition, the Fulbright Panel for Wind Instruments in New York City, and has been a guest clinician at the International Midwest Band and Orchestra Conference.Hartig served as artistic director of the International Clarinet Association Mid-America Festival 2015, hosted at The Ohio State University in conjunction with its annual Clarinet Spectacular.
