Kara Hartten

Kara Hartten began her musical studies at the age of five in her hometown of Redding, Connecticut. She earned both a Bachelor of Music Performance and a Bachelor of Arts in French from DePauw University, followed by a Master of Music in cello performance and instrumental conducting from the University of North Dakota. During her graduate studies, Kara worked as the graduate teaching assistant in cello and orchestra, as well as founded a string ensemble she currently directs, the Grand Forks Community Orchestra. Kara additionally conducts the Northern Valley Youth Orchestra’s Philharmonic Orchestra.

As a cellist, Kara has performed with the UND Student String Quartet and UND’s Red River Trio, a student ensemble that toured in May of 2014 in Tokyo, Japan and Shanghai, China. Kara has studied with Drs. Simona Barbu, Darilyn Manring, Yeon-Ji Yun, and Eric Edberg, as well as performed in master classes with renowned cellists such as Amit Peled, Matt Haimovitz, Nicholas Photinos, Emilio Colon and Laszlo Varga. In 2011, she played Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat major with internationally known cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Kara is presently an orchestra teacher in the Grand Forks Public Schools as well as a Suzuki cello teacher in the surrounding community. She performs with the Fargo Moorhead Symphony Orchestra as well as the Greater Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra and is a cello faculty member for the International Music Camp.