Anthony Kitai

Affiliate Artist in Cello

Anthony Kitai joined the Houston Symphony in 2001, serving as Acting Associate Principal Cellist from 2003-2005. As a member of the orchestra, he has performed in the top concert halls across the world, including appearances in London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Edinburgh, Hamburg, Munich, Vienna, Warsaw, Moscow, and multiple appearances at Carnegie Hall. Anthony Kitai has appeared on numerous award-winning recordings, receiving both a Grammy Award and an ECHO Klassik Award for the Houston Symphony’s live recording of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck. Previously, he was a member of the Memphis Symphony and the Iris Chamber Orchestra.  
 
As a soloist, Anthony Kitai has appeared with many orchestras including the Xalapa Symphony Orchestra, Galveston Symphony, Houston Civic Symphony, Texas Medical Center Orchestra, Delta Symphony, Fort Smith Symphony, Pine Bluff Symphony, Sewanee Symphony, and the University of Houston’s Moores School Symphony Orchestra.  
 
Music festival appearances include Mainly Mozart, Zenith, Grand Teton, Schleswig-Holstein, Aspen, and New York String Orchestra Seminar. Anthony Kitai was on the faculty of the American Festival for the Arts in Houston and the Sewanee Summer Music Festival, and is now a member of the artist faculty at the Texas Music Festival as well as the principal cellist of the AIMS Festival Orchestra in Graz, Austria.  
 
As a chamber musician, Anthony Kitai has performed with Mercury Baroque and on concert series such as Aperio, Cactus Pear Music Festival, Col Canto, Foundation for Modern Music, Third Space Music, Moores School of Music Faculty Recitals, and Woodlands Salon Series Concerts. He frequently collaborates with his wife, pianist Shannon Hesse, and has performed with her on the Galveston Island Arts Academy Concert Series, Greenbriar Consortium Concerts, Houston Community College Chamber Music Series, Imperial Performing Arts, Louisiana State University Manship Guest Series, and Westminster Summer Concerts.  
 
Anthony Kitai currently serves as an affiliate artist of cello at the University of Houston, Moores School of Music, and maintains a thriving private cello studio. He has given masterclasses at various universities including Drake University, Utah State University, Sam Houston State University, Texas Tech University, University of North Texas, and the University of Louisville. Internationally, he has taught at the Allegra Music Festival in Xalapa, Mexico and at the Encuentro Annual de Cuerdas in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.  
 
Anthony Kitai received his BM and performer’s certificate from the Eastman School of Music and his MM from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. His major teachers have included Desmond Hoebig, Steven Doane, Paul Katz, and Peter Spurbeck.