Andrew Karr, Adjunct Instructor of French Horn at the University of South Florida , is a member of the USF Faculty Brass Quintet. He was appointed co-principal horn of the Florida West Coast Symphony in October 2007, after performing as second horn in that orchestra since 2004. Prior to that, he was principal horn of the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra and the Shanghai Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra, the only non-Chinese musician in these orchestras for most of his tenure. Karr started playing piano at the age of five, adding horn when he was nine. He was notable on both instruments at an early age. He earned numerous awards including top prize in the New World Symphony concerto competition, finalist in the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Greenfield Competition, a Harvard Music Society scholarship grant, and special recognition for performances and classes he taught in the Republic of Moldova.
When he joined the New World Symphony, a professional training orchestra in Miami, Florida, her studied conducting privately with San Francisco Symphony music director Michael Tilson Thomas. He has performed as a soloist or principal horn in over twenty different countries on four continents, with orchestras in some of the most well-respected venues in the world, including the Berlin Philharmonie and the Amsterdam Concergebouw.
Locally, Karr has performed with the Southwest Florida Symphony, the Orlando Philharmonic, and Opera Tampa. He plays regularly with the Colorado Music Festival and the Colorado Chamber Orchestra, studies a variety of languages, practices kung fu, and sings in amateur choruses.
Karr attended the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
