bio
Roger Kaza rejoined the St. Louis Symphony as Principal Horn in the fall of 2009, after 14 years with the Houston Symphony. He was previously a member of the St. Louis Symphony horn section from 1983-95, and prior to that held positions in the Vancouver Symphony, Boston Symphony, and the Boston Pops, where he was solo horn under John Williams.
A native of Portland, Oregon, he attended Portland State University, studying with Christopher Leuba, and later transferred to the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he received a Bachelor of Music with Honors in 1977 under the tutelage of Thomas E. Newell, Jr.
Kaza’s musical activities are wide-ranging. Growing up in a musical family, the son of two musicians, he received his early training on piano, giving two solo piano recitals before concentrating on horn. He studied composition with the Czech-American composer Tomas Svoboda and conducting with Leonard Slatkin, Gunther Schuller, and Murry Sidlin.
He conducted more than 40 concerts with members of the Houston Symphony under the auspices of its Community Connections outreach program, giving concerts in schools, churches, homeless shelters, and retirement homes.
An avid bicyclist, hiker, and whitewater rafter, Kaza is especially fond of the horn in its original setting: out-of-doors. A performance of Olivier Messiaen’s “Interstellar Call,” from his suite From the Canyons to the Stars, recorded at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, was personally critiqued by the composer shortly before his death in 1992.
For Roger Kaza's full bio, visit the St. Louis Symphony.
A native of Portland, Oregon, he attended Portland State University, studying with Christopher Leuba, and later transferred to the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he received a Bachelor of Music with Honors in 1977 under the tutelage of Thomas E. Newell, Jr.
Kaza’s musical activities are wide-ranging. Growing up in a musical family, the son of two musicians, he received his early training on piano, giving two solo piano recitals before concentrating on horn. He studied composition with the Czech-American composer Tomas Svoboda and conducting with Leonard Slatkin, Gunther Schuller, and Murry Sidlin.
He conducted more than 40 concerts with members of the Houston Symphony under the auspices of its Community Connections outreach program, giving concerts in schools, churches, homeless shelters, and retirement homes.
An avid bicyclist, hiker, and whitewater rafter, Kaza is especially fond of the horn in its original setting: out-of-doors. A performance of Olivier Messiaen’s “Interstellar Call,” from his suite From the Canyons to the Stars, recorded at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, was personally critiqued by the composer shortly before his death in 1992.
For Roger Kaza's full bio, visit the St. Louis Symphony.