A native of Prague, Karel Husa studied also in Paris, notably with Honegger and Nadia Boulanger, later settling in the United States. His work as a composer was for some time limited by his distinction as a conductor.

Instrumental and Vocal Music

Husa’s musical language successfully combines a contemporary harmonic idiom with a neoclassical attention to form and balance. His Music for Prague reflects his reaction to the suppression of newly developing freedom in Prague in 1968. Other compositions include concertos for various solo instruments, music for wind instruments, and compositions for various chamber ensembles. His choral works include settings of texts taken from Henry David Thoreau.