Kara Hunnicutt, cellist and teacher in Central Washington, has been principal cellist of the Yakima Symphony since 1990. She has been a featured soloist with seven orchestras in the Northwest, performing concertos by Dvorak, Schumann, Bloch, Saint-Saëns and Haydn, and most recently a cello concerto written for her by Dr. Gwyneth Walker, performed with the Mid Columbia Symphony in 2007. Recent chamber music performances have been at Cascadia Sounds of Summer in Twisp, the Icicle Creek Chamber Music Festival in Leavenworth and the Methow Music Festival in Mazama. With fellow chamber musicians Duane Funderburk and Alex Russell, Kara has founded The Cascades Trio that performs yearly in Los Angeles and throughout North Central Washington. A founding member of the Education Outreach program in Yakima, Kara and other Yakima Symphony members provide chamber music concerts and ‘informances’ to schools in the Yakima area. Awarded the Outstanding Performing Artist Award by NCW Allied Arts, she has played with the Northwest Chamber Orchestra, Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra, Spokane Symphony, and as principal cellist of the Federal Way, Everett, Tacoma, Omak, Orchestra Seattle. Wenatchee, and Seattle Bach Choir orchestras.
She has toured with the Pacific Northwest Ballet and soloed with Seattle Repertory Theatre. Kara founded a summer camp for young string players and served on the faculty of the Woods House Conservatory of Music. A native of Wenatchee, she attended Oberlin Conservatory, summers at Music Academy of the West and Aspen Music Festival, studying with Fred Zlotkin and Juilliard String Quartet cellist Claus Adam, and received her bachelors and masters degrees in cello performance from the University of Southern California where she studied with Gabor Rejto and Ronald Leonard. She earned a masters degree in education from Central Washington University in 2000 and moved to Ellensburg in 2007 to start a new orchestra program in the public schools. Kara conducts Icicle Creek Music Center’s Academy Orchestra at Wenatchee’s Performing Arts Center.
