Michigan native Karlee Kamminga is a horn player in the United States Air Force Heartland of America Band, stationed at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, NE.
Prior to joining the USAF Bands, Karlee was a freelancer, teacher, and arts administrator in Boston, MA. An accomplished chamber musician, her woodwind quintet was invited to perform Yehudi Wyner’s Into the Evening Air on a Boston Symphony Orchestra Prelude Concert after being coached by the composer. Karlee has an extensive resume, performing with orchestras throughout Nebraska, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Montana. She’s participated in many summer festivals such as Domaine Forget where she was selected as the featured soloist, Miami Music Festival, Audition Mode Horn Seminar, and Kendall Betts Horn Camp.
With a passion for arts administration, Karlee has worked for the Boston Symphony Orchestra as the Tanglewood Music Center (TMC) Coordinator. In this role, she oversaw all the faculty and guest artists that came to the TMC, managed concerts, and served as the main point-of-contact for high profile musicians. Karlee worked closely with Manny Ax, Joan Tower, and Dawn Upshaw. While a student at New England Conservatory, she worked as the brass department graduate assistant, providing administrative support to the faculty and staff.
In addition to performing and working behind the scenes of music organizations, Karlee maintains an active teaching career. She’s had a private studio of middle and high school horn students since 2019 and has successfully continued it during her cross country moves. In 2023, Karlee was selected by NEC and Carnegie Hall to present their LinkUp curriculum to multiple K-5 classrooms in Boston. Additionally, Karlee was an NEC teaching fellow providing group and private lessons to underserved students in Boston Public Schools and El Sistema programs.
Karlee completed her Master of Music degree in Horn Performance at New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) in 2023 with academic honors. She primarily studied with BSO 2nd horn, Rachel Childers, and received extensive coaching from Gus Sebring and the entire BSO horn section. Graduating magna cum laude from Western Michigan University (WMU) in 2021, she earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Horn Performance under Dr. Lin Foulk-Baird. Prior to WMU, Karlee studied with Dr. Paul Austin of the Grand Rapids Symphony & ICSOM.
Outside of music, Karlee is fluent in French and studied abroad in Lyon, France during summer 2019 to complete her minor. She lived with a host family and took intense courses studying the French language and culture at the Université Catholique de Lyon. When not playing the horn, Karlee can be found hiking mountains, eating donuts, and shoe shopping!