Roger Kaza

Roger Kaza rejoined the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra as Principal Horn in the fall of 2009, after 14 years with the Houston Symphony. He was previously third horn of the SLSO during the Leonard Slatkin era, and prior to that held positions in the Vancouver BC Symphony, Boston Symphony, and the Boston Pops, where he was solo horn under John Williams. In addition to his SLSO duties, Kaza is Principal Horn of the Chautauqua Symphony in New York, and has played guest principal with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, and the symphonies of San Francisco, Dallas, Detroit, and Utah, among others. A native of Portland, Oregon, he attended Portland State University, studying with Pat Fay and Christopher Leuba, and later transferred to the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he received a Bachelor of Music with Honors in 1977 under the tutelage of Thomas E. Newell, Jr.

The son of two musicians growing up in a musical family, Kaza received his early training on piano with Lenore Cowling, giving two solo recitals on that instrument before concentrating on horn. He has studied composition with the late Czech-American composer Tomas Svoboda and conducting with Leonard Slatkin, Gunther Schuller, and Murry Sidlin. He has conducted more than 40 concerts with members of the Houston Symphony under the auspices of its Community Connections outreach program, giving free concerts in schools, churches, homeless shelters, and retirement homes.

As an educator, Kaza has served on the faculties of the University of Houston, Rice University, St. Louis Conservatory, University of Missouri-St. Louis, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, Tanglewood, Chautauqua, and has given master classes at the Eastman School, Juilliard, Curtis, Indiana University, University of Michigan, and many others. In 2019 he was invited to serve as faculty for Yo-Yo Ma’s YMCG festival in Guangzhou, China. His students fill orchestral positions worldwide, including major U.S. symphonies and chamber groups such as the American Brass Quintet. In addition, he has been engaged as a featured artist for the International Horn Society at its annual convention. He is creator of the humorous instructional CD, Audition: Improbable, and a contributor to the syndicated NPR radio show and podcast, Engines of Our Ingenuity.

Kaza has appeared as soloist with many orchestras, including the St. Louis, Vancouver, and Houston symphonies, and the Carlos Chavez Chamber Orchestra in Mexico City. In 2021 he performed the world premiere of Stefan Freund’s Voyageur Fantasy, a work commissioned by the SLSO in honor of the Missouri Bicentennial. A frequent chamber musician as well, he performs regularly with the Chamber Music Society of St. Louis, Ariel Concert Series, and numerous summer venues, including the Bravo! Vail Valley Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, Mainly Mozart, Strings in the Mountains, the Aspen, and Marrowstone festivals.

An avid cyclist, hiker, and whitewater rafter, Kaza is especially fond of the horn in its original setting: out-of-doors. A performance of Olivier Messiaen’s “Interstellar Call,” from his suite From the Canyons to the Stars, recorded at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, was personally critiqued by the composer shortly before his death in 1992.

In 2023, Kaza was named Principal Conductor of the Metropolitan Orchestra of St. Louis, an ensemble comprised of the metro area’s top freelancers, sharing the stand with a handful of elite students.