Born in London of part-Ukrainian heritage, Katherine Hunka has been Leader of the Irish Chamber Orchestra since 2002 and regularly directs from the leader’s chair. She is Artistic Director of the Killaloe Music Festival and a Fellow of London’s Royal Academy of Music where she studied with Gyorgy Pauk. Following her studies with Mauricio Fuks she was guest professor at Indiana University.
She is a lecturer at MTU’s Cork School of Music and the Irish World Academy of Music.
In 2019 her group “The Far Flung Trio” released a CD covering Bach to Klezmer. In 2020 her solo CD recording with the ICO of Piazzolla and Schubert received glowing reviews. Katherine was a member of the Academy of St Martin in the fields and guest leader with the Manchester Camerata, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. She has been a guest soloist with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra and Concert Orchestra.