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Active as a soloist, chamber musician and educator, cellist Dr Rebecca Hartka released her debut CD "Folkfire" in October 2010, receiving critical acclaim as well as radio play on both WFCR and WAMC Performance Place. The Daily Hampshire Gazzette 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". Her international solo debut in 2007 in Vietnam was reviewed by a local paper as "... no less than magical and eloquent."
As comfortable in a café as a concert hall, Hartka has appeared a wide range of venues from the American Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam to Club Passim in Cambridge, MA. She has recently performed as solo reciltalist at the Dweck Center for Contemporary Culture, on the North Quabbin Center for the Arts series, the Exploring the Arts series, the 88 Keys series, and the Jazz and More series. She was a featured soloist for the Project Guggenheim's "the Art of Compassion in a Time of War" and the Spiral Dance Festival in San Francisco. A recipient of the 1993 Henriette Reiss Award, and Hartka has also appeared as a chamber musician in the Newton Free Library series, the SAPAS performing arts seris, and in prestigious venues such as the Boston Athenaeum, the Boston Center for the Arts, the Lenox Atheneum and the Brevard Music Center. As one of the founding members of the Phoenix Trio, she gave regular concert tours throughout the country from 2006-09. The Trio was also a recipient of a 2005 Brookline Tercentennial Fund Grant and participated as a full fellow in the Brevard Advanced Chamber Music Festival in 2004.
As a guest and freelance performer, Hartka has been featured as a guest artist in a concert tour with the Meritage Quartet and has also peformed with Serenata Chamber Players, Boston College Contemporary Music Ensemble, Hyperprism, the Fringe Festival, Cape Ann Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, the Bozeman Symphony, the Helena Symphony and the Intermountain Opera Company. Hartka has attended chamber festivals including the Oberlin in Cassalmaggiore Chamber music festival in Italy, the Lydian String Quartet Chamber Music Workshop, the Music from Salem Chamber Music Festival, and the Hampden-Sydney Chamber Music Festival.
As a crossover performer Hartka has appeared with Jenna Nichols in venues such as the Rockwood music club in New York and Club Passim in Cambridge MA. She has attended the String Fling at the Berklee school, working on alternative styles with Darol Anger of the Turtle Island String Quartet as well as Eugene Freisen of the Paul Winter Consort. She has also had private lessons in Celtic Music and Baroque Cello. She has performed Baroque cello with violinist Carrie Krause of Apollo's Fire, as well as attending the International Baroque Institute at Longy.
An elected member of Phi Kappa Lambda, the National Music Honors Society, and a four year recipient of the Deans Scholar Award, Hartka completed a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Cello performance at Boston University College of Fine Arts (BU CFA) in May 2007. 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.