Rebecca Hartka

Cellist Rebecca Hartka brings joy, stylistic versatility and passion for cross cultural
connection to the art of music making. With playing described by the Hanoi Times as
“… magical and eloquent” she has performed in venues throughout the United States
with international appearances in Cuba, Italy, Turkey, Mexico, Vietnam and Thailand.
Recent collaborations have been with Curi Cachimuel, a Quechua indigenous musician
and composer from Otavalo, Ecuador as well as Mayan musicians in the Yucatán
Mexico, and an appearance on the Tedx stage. She performs in venues throughout
New England and New York with guitarist Jose Lezcano and pianist Barbara
Lysakowski including appearances at the Mariposa Museum for Art and Culture;
Saugerties Pro Musica; the Frederick Historical Piano Collection Concert Series; the
French Cultural Center of Boston; the Dweck Center, among others.

Hartka has released three CDs on Becsta Records. Her 2017 Colors Couleurs Colores
Cores (Becsta records) “displays a high degree of heart and total control” (Michael
Johnson) was recorded with Guitarist Jose Lezcano and pianist Barbara Lysakowski. D.
Moore of American Record Guide stated that “Hartka and Lezcano play off against each
other in a subtle but effective unity of rubato relationships that brings off the sonatas
with a personality that catches the ears and holds them”. In 2014 she released her
second CD Light & Shadow: Sonatas of Rachmaninov and Poulenc with pianist Alys
Terrien-Queen. According to the Boston Musical Intelligencer they “take this rich
Russian music to new heights”, stating that their performance “ranks comfortably
alongside several impressive readings by other major cellists.” Hartka released her
debut CD Folkfire with pianist Azusa Komiyama in October 2010, receiving critical
acclaim as well as radio play on both WFCR and WAMC Performance Place. The Daily
Hampshire Gazette remarked of the CD that Hartka “emotes a passion worthy of a
symphony orchestra” while the Greenfield Recorder praised her for having “a passion
for precision that never imposes itself upon the music”. She was the recipient of the
1993 Henriette Reiss Award for Outstanding Artistic Merit.

Hartka has been an educator for twenty years, facilitating embodied technical
excellence, individual expression and depth of musical knowledge in her students. She
is on the faculty of All Newton Music School in Newton, MA and has served as an
adjunct professor at Keene State College in Keene, NH and Montana State University.
Hartka completed a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Cello performance at Boston University
College of Fine Arts (BU CFA) in May 2007, as a four-year recipient of the Deans
Scholar Award, and an elected member of Phi Kappa Lambda, the National Music
Honors Society. Hartka completed a Masters in Music at BU CFA, and a Bachelor of
Arts in Cello Performance at the Oberlin Conservatory and College. Hartka’s teachers
have included Leslie Parnas, Michael Reynolds, Rhonda Rider, Clive Greensmith,
Andor Toth, Peter Rejto, Douglas Moore and Justin Kagan.