Craig Hara
Lecturer of Music
Craig Hara
Lecturer of Music
American Music History, Jazz History, Concert/Pep Band, Recording Technology
M.F.A.in Trumpet Performance, California Institute of the Arts
B.F.A. in Trumpet Performance, California Institute of the Arts
Office Phone: 715-425-3858
e-mail: harable@comcast.net
Craig Hara teaches American Music, History of Jazz, Concert/Pep Band, Recording Techniques, and is a member of the River Falls Brass at UW-River Falls. He was interim conductor for the UW-River Falls Symphonic Wind Band and the St. Croix Valley Symphony Orchestra in the fall of 2005, and also taught Music Appreciation for five years, and trumpet two. He is a freelance musician and teacher, playing Trumpet, Drums and Percussion, EVI (Electronic Valve Instrument), and Keyboards and Synthesizers. Currently living in Minnesota where his wife, Marni Hougham, plays English Horn in the Minnesota Orchestra, Craig plays Principal Trumpet in the La Crosse Symphony, and continues to perform in California with the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra and the Asia America Symphony.
Craig earned Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts degrees from the California Institute of the Arts, after starting his undergraduate studies at California State University, Northridge. His primary teachers were Mario Guarneri, Roy Poper, Rob Roy McGregor and Boyde Hood on trumpet, and Peter Donald, Peter Erskine, Jerry Steinholtz, and Tarnoth Rao on drums and percussion.
He can be heard†on recordings and in live performance with various artists and groups (Laura Caviani, Global Jazz, Mary Louise Knutson, Charles Lazarus, River Falls Brass, the David Singley trio, Pete Whitman, Zona, the Bach Society, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Minnesota Opera, VocalEssence [formerly Plymouth Music Series], on scores for motion pictures and television (Solstice, The Legend of EarthSea, Netforce, Chicago Hope, High Incident, Face/Off, Time Cop, Speechless, Death Wish IV), and has performed in North America, Japan, and Europe with many of the world's most eminent†musicians, including Leonard Bernstein, Bill Conti, Zubin Mehta,†Helmut Rilling, Michael Tilson Thomas, John Williams, Louis Bellson, David Benoit, JosÈ Carreras, Stanley Clarke, Chick Corea, Mark Isham, Kiri Te Kanawa, Chuck Mangione, Itzhak Perlman, Doc Severinsen, and Sarah Vaughn.
Recently, Craig has been involved in a number of projects and events related to his collaboration with Minnesota Orchestra trumpet player, Chuck Lazarus. The first was writing and producing the musical score for the Minnesota Granite Industry's DVD, Granite Country USA. Very soon after, after Chuck was called on to play with Canadian Brass as their lead trumpet player, the duo released the album, Solo Settings, with Craig acting as producer, engineer and editor, as well as composing and playing numerous instruments. A May 2005 recital at UW-La Crosse featuring Chuck, Doc Severinsen (The Tonight Show Band), and Adolph ìBudî Herseth (formerly Principal Trumpet in the Chicago Symphony, and the archetype for modern American Orchestra trumpet playing) included the duo performing a number of selections from the album. By the end of the evening, Craig had played trumpet, wavedrum, acoustic and electric guitars, piano, drums, and also sang. A direct result of this recital performance was a request from Doc Severinsen that Craig play drumset for two of Doc's engagements with the Minnesota Orchestra in the fall of 2005.
Craig joined Chuck in subsequent performances at the Dakota Jazz Club in Minneapolis, Macy's Day of Music at Orchestra Hall, on the Kare11 Morning Show, in Masterclasses at the Juilliard School and Yale University, in the mounting of an orchestral pops show with the Minnesota Orchestra, which include arrangements and orchestrations of works from the album by Craig, and a new CD scheduled for release in the fall of 2007.
Contact Craig Hara by email at harable@comcast.net or by phone at 715/425-3858.
