UCLA doctoral student conductor Stephen Karr conducts his final DMA lecture/recital with UCLA Philharmonia, featuring the virtuosic suite from Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme by Richard Strauss.
Since 2005, UCLA Philharmonia has been led by Professor and Director of Orchestral Studies Neal Stulberg. Its past music directors have included Lukas Foss, Richard Dufallo, Mehli Mehta, Samuel Krachmalnick, Alexander Treger, and Jon Robertson. 2018-19 highlights include an October performance of Leonard Bernstein’s Halil with Los Angeles Philharmonic Principal Flute and UCLA Faculty member Denis Bouriakov; the 15th annual All-Star concert (in Royce Hall in January); a March performance at LACMA’s Bing Theater and the world premiere production of Janice Hamer’s opera Lost Childhood.
Born in Greenville, South Carolina, Stephen Karr is a compelling interpreter of opera and orchestral works. In 2011, he co-founded Pacific Opera Project, for which he was music director until 2016. With POP, he led productions of Trouble in Tahiti, Così fan tutte, The Turn of the Screw, La Calisto (LA premiere), Ariadne auf Naxos and The Rake’s Progress (LA professional premiere), among others. The Los Angeles Times praised his performance of the Stravinsky as having kept orchestra, cast and chorus on “well-articulated rhythmic track.” He has worked with the OPERA Iowa tour, the Glimmerglass Festival, Opera New Jersey and Palm Beach Opera. Karr has taught at Chapman University, Michigan State University, USC and UCLA. His schooling includes degrees in organ performance (Mercer University and Westminster Choir College) and orchestral conducting (UCLA).
Made possible by the David and Irmgard Dobrow Fund. Classical music was a passion of the Dobrows, who established a generous endowment at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music to make programs like this possible. We are proud to celebrate this program as part of the 2018-2019 Dobrow Series.