Editor: Keith Davis Writers: Alex Dippold, Dave Maley Publisher: Office of Public Information Volume 22, No.17  June 5, 2000

University in the Czech Republic Honors Composer Karel Husa Karel Husa, a Pulitzer Prize– winning composer and former member of the Ithaca College music faculty, was presented with an honorary doctor of arts degree from Masaryk University, one of the Czech Republic’s largest institutions of higher education, on May 12. The ceremony, which included Ithaca pianist Michael Salmirs performing one of Husa’s piano sonatas, took place in the recital hall in the James J. Whalen Center for Music. Jiri Zlatuska, president of Masaryk University, and Mikulas Bek, head of the university’s music department, made the presentation. The idea of presenting Husa with the honorary doctorate had been in the works since last summer, when Zlatuska and other Masaryk officials visited Ithaca College to explore possible exchange programs. On discovering the College’s strong connection with Husa, one of the leading figures in 20th-century music, they decided that an honorary doctorate from the Czech university would be a way of celebrating Husa’s accomplishments. Husa, in accepting the degree, said it was a privilege to be honored by the institution named after Tomas Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia. "He was an idol when I was a young boy," said Husa, a native Czech. "The memory still remains with me today. He was a great philosopher, humanist, and a warm person." Husa taught composition at Ithaca College from 1967 to 1986 and is the Kappa Alpha Professor of Music Emeritus at Cornell University. In 1969 he won a Pulitzer Prize for his String Quartet no. 3. One of his best known compositions, Music for Prague, 1968, was commissioned and first performed by the Ithaca College Concert Band and has subsequently been performed over 7,000 times worldwide. It is among the five manuscripts he has donated to the Ithaca College School of Music, all of which are on display in the Whalen Center’s Karel Husa Gallery. Husa is also an accomplished conductor and has led the major orchestras of Paris, London, Hamburg, Prague, Stockholm, Oslo, Zurich, Hong Kong, Singapore, and New York. In 1995 he was awarded the Czech Republic’s highest civilian honor, the State Medal of Merit, First Class, and in 1998 he received the Medal of the City of Prague. He has also been honored by UNESCO, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Located in Brno in the Czech Republic, Masaryk University was established in 1919. This summer the university, in collaboration with Ithaca College, will inaugurate a chamber music program designed for performers, music educators, composers, and musicologists seeking to develop stylistic understanding of the music of central European composers. In addition to being coached in the music, participants will study the art, literature, folk traditions, languages, and cultural history that influenced the compositions.   Photo: Karel Husa (right) receives an honorary doctorate from Masaryk University’s Jiri Zlatuska.

ITHACA | Back Issues | Table of Contents | NEWS Home | Publication Schedule | Letter to the Editor Created by Andrejs Ozolins. Updated 10. May. 2000