La Fête Française

Harpist Franziska Huhn is a vibrant musical force as a soloist, chamber musician, pedagogue and orchestral performer. Ms. Huhn has given solo recitals throughout the United States and worldwide in Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Syria, Pakistan and Germany, including performances for German Presidents Johannes Rau and Horst Koehler at Schloss Bellevue. Ms. Huhn has been featured in recital on WGBH’s “Live from Studio 1” and as part of New England Conservatory’s First Mondays performance series. In 2007 Ms. Huhn’s recording Harp Solo was released and features both contemporary and classical works for harp. 

A 2003 Fromm Fellow, Ms. Huhn is known as a proponent of contemporary music for harp and performs works written especially for her by composers Daniel Pinkham, Lior Navok, and John Heiss. Ms. Huhn plays as part of contemporary chamber ensembles Callithumpian Consort, Collage New Music and Sound Icon. Since 2007 Ms. Huhn has served as a performer and coach at the Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice (SICPP) at New England Conservatory. 

Ms. Huhn performs as part of harp and flute ensemble Duo Elysee based in Berlin, Germany. She has also performed as a substitute harpist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra as well as in orchestral positions with the Pacific Music Festival in Japan, the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, and the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts. 

As a pedagogue Ms. Huhn holds faculty positions at New England Conservatory, Boston University, Longy School of Music of Bard College, and Wheaton College. Since 2003, Ms. Huhn has been the Assistant Director of the Harp Seminar at Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute and has served on the faculty of the Connecticut Valley Harp Intensive since 2012. 

Ms. Huhn established herself as an artist of distinction at a very young age, earning first prize in the prestigious Jugend Musiziert Competition in Germany at the age of fourteen. She was then invited to study on a full scholarship with Lucile Lawrence at Boston University and then continued her harp studies with Ann Hobson Pilot at New England Conservatory, where she became the first ever harpist to be awarded the Artist Diploma by the Conservatory in 2005. In 2007, she received an Artist Diploma from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg, Germany.

Sought out for her “dazzling” (Boston Globe) performances with “extreme control and beauty” (The Clarinet Journal), Amy Advocat, clarinetist, is an avid performer of new music having performed with Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Alarm Will Sound, Sound Icon, Guerilla Opera, Firebird Ensemble, Callithumpian Consort, Collage New Music, and Dinosaur Annex.

Amy is a founding member of the bass clarinet and marimba duo, Transient Canvas, with whom she has commissioned and premiered hundreds of new works and released three albums to critical acclaim. Transient Canvas regularly tours across the United States and Europe, including featured performances at New Music Gathering (San Francisco/Boston), SoundNOW Festival (Atlanta), Alba Music Festival (Italy), Music on the Edge (Pittsburgh), Outpost Concert Series (Los Angeles), and more. Their debut album, Sift, was released in August 2017 on New Focus Recordings to rave reviews. KLANG New Music called it “one of the more refreshing things I’ve heard in recent years.” Their second album, Wired, was named a top local album of 2018 by The Boston Globe with I Care If You Listen raving “Transient Canvas is a tour de force and this record is a must-add to any new music lover’s library.”

Equally at home with more traditional classical music, Amy Advocat has also performed with Odyssey Opera, Boston Pops, Harrisburg Symphony, Opera Boston, Boston Philharmonic, and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. She was twice a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center and has participated at the New Hampshire Music Festival, Monadnock Music, Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice (SICPP), New York String Orchestra Seminar, Virginia Arts Festival, Spoleto USA Festival, and the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria.

Amy Advocat is a proud endorsing artist with Conn-Selmer and Henri Selmer Paris Clarinets.

Flutist Tracy Kraus is known for her “supple and riveting” performances, described as “elegant and adroit” with a “dazzling” quality of sound. She has performed extensively in Europe and the US, including at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. Her summer festival appearances include the Aspen and Tanglewood Music Festivals. 

Ms. Kraus received her BA from Clark University and her MM from the Boston Conservatory. 

Kraus’ love for the Northern California coast led her to an orchestral position with the Mendocino Music Festival. In 1982, she founded the Abbot Chamber Players, where she discovered her passion for chamber music and organizational management. Her role as the co-founder, flutist, and former Executive Director of the Worcester Chamber Music Society, a highly regarded organization, is a testament to her exceptional leadership and management skills, which have guided the society through a significant period of growth and success.

As the Executive Director of WCMS, she guided the organization through various stages of growth, including its inception, obtaining nonprofit status, establishing a leadership and governance team, managing a roster of exceptional musicians, developing a robust concert series, and creating two outstanding educational programs.

Tracy and violist Peter Sulski co-founded the Worcester Chamber Music Society 20 years ago. Their vision for a thriving and vibrant chamber music organization has grown and evolved over time. This growth is attributed not only to the exceptional musicianship of the chamber players but also, especially, to Tracy’s leadership, vision, dedication, and ability to adapt and learn in her role as Executive Director. Tracy’s innumerable contributions, creativity, insight, and boundless energy during her tenure as Executive Director have been augmented by her skills in strategic planning, relationship building, organizational skills, and tireless work in garnering support within our community, thus enabling WCMS to grow and flourish.  

Tracy’s active involvement with the Worcester Cultural Coalition for many years, including her service as board president from 2020 to 2022, is a testament to her deep commitment to promoting the city’s rich and diverse cultural assets. The coalition, a public-private partnership established in 1999, aims to leverage these assets to promote economic revitalization, encourage active and creative engagement for all, and foster a strong cultural identity for Greater Worcester.

In 2017, Ms. Kraus was honored with the YWCA’s Katherine Erskine Award, which recognizes women who have demonstrated leadership and achieved exceptional levels of success in their professions and communities.