My Fan
Page on Facebook recently passed the 3000-fan mark making it the
#1 classical clarinetist page on Facebook in the world! Thank you
to all my friends, fans and supporters for helping me to reach this
milestone!!
UPCOMING EVENTS
Hommage à Schumann
J
oin me on for an exciting evening featuring works of Robert & Clara
SCHUMANN, BRAHMS, LISZT, and SCHUBERT performed by yours truly, soprano
Jayne West, and pianists
Robert
Merfeld and Rasa
Vitkauskaite. Reception to follow concert! Facebook event here.
What:
Hommage à Schumann — Longy Faculty Recital
When:
Friday, October 15, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Where:
Pickman Hall, Longy School of Music
27 Garden St.
Cambridge, MA
European Clarinet Festival & Competition
T
here is a major new clarinet competition and festival taking place in Kortrijk,
Belgium from October 30 to November 6, 2010. I will be teaching masterclasses,
playing a recital, playing the Weber Concertino
with the Clarinet Quartet of the United States Air Force Band of Europe,
and judging the competition there on a very prestigious panel. As part of
the same event, the first European Clarinet Festival takes place from November
4 to 7, 2010. If you are interested in competing or performing at the festival
click
here for contact information, festival information and competition application!!
The jury and prizes being offered are the largest of any clarinet
competition in the world that I am aware, and the jury is truly international
including such clarinet legends as Karl Leister, Stanley Drucker,
Koichi Hamanaka and other well-known clarinetists.
Hope to see you there!
RECENT NEWS
ClarinetFest, Austin
F
rom July 21 to July 25, I was in Austin, Texas at the annual mega-gathering
of clarinetists from all over the world, ClarinetFest
2010. I played the ProkofievSonata in
D Major, Op. 94 there with Colette Valentine
in McCullough Theatre, which is in the Performing
Arts Center at University of Texas, Austin. I had a great time visiting with friends from the world over including my
old pal Michael Drapkin from Tanglewood days, who hosted a wonderful party at his lovely new home, and my good friend from Taiwan, Bill Chen of the Taipei Symphony. Bill brought a
large entourage of students to the event, and I gave a special masterclass just for them.
Xativa, Spain
I
taught and conducted the orchestra at the 2°
Curso Internacional de Musica Ciutat de Xàtiva from July 4 to 10. The festival is a 7-day intensive event lead
by Fran Moral & Jordi Fuster, founders of Saetebis Music Society.
The festival takes place in Xàtiva, Spain and it was amazing! I posted pictures on Facebook
here. I'll
choose the best ones and post them here soon. It was 37 or 38 degrees every day
in Xàtiva, which is one of the hottest places
in Spain! I did get to visit the castle at the top of the hill
and it was beautiful! I conducted the orchestra there in a performance of DvorakSymphony No. 9 "From the New World". The festival also included included performances by the
saxophone ensemble, clarinet ensemble, percussion ensemble, string quartet,
and piano flamenco!! Great performances all around! And the clarinet students were amazing! I will miss Xàtiva!
IWWF 2010, Pella, Iowa
The
International
Woodwind Festival 2010 in Pella, Iowa took place from June 20 to 27! IWWF this year
featured renowned Belgian soloist and teacher Eddy Vanoosthuyse,
Central College professor of clarinet Cynthia Doggett,
along with yours truly Jonathan Cohler, as well as pianists Rasa Vitkauskaite, and Shizue
Sano.
I
performed and taught at the 1er Encuentro de Clarinete 2010
in March at the National Conservatory of Music in Mexico City, Mexico.
The program for my recital was:
GuastavinoTonada FranckSonata in A Major SchumannFantasy Pieces, Op. 73 PoulencSonata
As usual my pianist was the wonderful Rasa
Vitkauskaite! Click on the poster
to the left for more information on the festival. The salsa dancing in Mexico City was great!
Messiaen with Claremonts
A
fter Caracas, I headed straight out to Logan, Utah where I played a performance
of the MessaienQuartet for the End of Time and the BeethovenTrio in B-flat Major, Op. 11 with the renowned Claremont
Trio on the concert series of the Chamber
Music Society of Logan. The concert was at 7:30pm on November 18, 2009in
the Manon Caine Russell Kathryn Caine Wanlass Performance Hall on the campus
of Utah State University.
Simon Bolivar Orchestra
F
rom November 1 to November 15, 2009 I was in Caracas, Venezuela conducting
the Simon Bolivar Orchestra, playing a recital with Rasa
Vitkauskaite, and performing the Morton GouldDerivations
with the Simon Bolivar Big Band in honor of Benny Goodman's 100th
birthday.
The orchestra concert included Beethoven Symphony No. 6,
Arismendi Concerto, Ravel La Valse, and CoriglianoConcerto, and it took place on Saturday, November 7 at 5:00pm in
Simon Bolivar Hall at the Centro de Acción Social por la Música
in Caracas. The Facebook event page is HERE.
Our recital on Monday, November 9 at 6:30pm in Concert Hall No. 2 of the
Centro de Acción Social por la Música in Caracas included
Schumann Sonata No. 1 in A Minor, Op. 105, MartinuSonatina, BernsteinSonata, and BassiRigoletto.
The Facebook event page is HERE.
The Morton Gould performance was on Sunday, November 8 at 5:00pm
at the Humboldt Cultural Association in Caracas.
I
have just published a few recent articles of mine on the web. You
are welcome and invited to read them! Although they are published as "Notes"
attached to my Facebook "Fan Page", you CAN read them without
being a member of Facebook. If you would like to add comments to those
pages (which are always welcome!), however, you must be a member and logged
into Facebook. These three articles come from my recent CD Jonathan
Cohler & Claremont Trio:
I hope you enjoy them and would certainly appreciate any feedback that
you may have!
Romanza
O
ur new CD Romanza should be back from the factory by the end of
April. Stay tuned!
Taiyuan, China
F
rom August 17 to 25, 2009 we were in China, where I was one of the featured
artists at the International Clarinet and Saxophone Festival in Taiyuan,
playing the same recital with Rasa and teaching masterclasses. We visited
an ancient city an hour away from Taiyuan in Shanxi Province and then in
Beijing, we saw Tiananmen Square, The Great Wall (at Badaling), and the
Forbidden City. The students in China are amazing! We look forward to our
next trip back there.
ClarinetFest, Porto
O
n August 13, 2009 at 2:30pm, Rasa
Vitkauskaite and I played a recital at the beautiful Casa da Musica
in Porto as part of the International
Clarinet Association's ClarinetFest. The program
included Schumann Sonata in A Minor, Op. 105 (from
our coming CD Romanza), Wilson Liquid
Ebony, Messager Solo de Concours (from our
award-winning CD Rhapsodie
Francaise), Arnold Sonatina,
and Lovreglio Fantasy on Themes from "La
Traviata". The Facebook
event is here. Then at 9:30am on August 14, I taught an open masterclass
at the Conservatory of Music in Porto. I also judged the final round of
the International Clarinet Association's Young
Artist Competition.
Luckily, we had a little bit of free time, so we were able to check out
the beaches in Espinho and Matosinho where we also ate some great seafood!
"The Boston-based clarinetist Jonathan Cohler always seems to put
on a good show, and he does here...Cohler and his collaborators have a
professionalism and artistic commitment that is difficult to match...
While there will never be a shortage of recordings of the Beethoven and
Brahms trios for clarinet, cello, and piano, these renditions by Cohler,
Kwong, and Julia Bruskin may rank among the best. The Beethoven sparkles
with daring tempos, driving intensity, and a highly expressive lyricism...
The Brahms, too, is deeply moving...the Dohnanyi... Cohler and his colleagues
make it a treat to hear, finding a remarkable balance between contrapuntal
clarity and late romantic fire."
BBC Music
O
ur CD Jonathan
Cohler & Claremont Trio was awarded the BBC Music CHOICE
distinction in the May 2009 issue of BBC Music Magazine, the world's
best-selling classical music magazine. Giving the CD a top rating of 5-stars
for Performance, reviewer Anthony Burton lauded our:
"spirited, stylish account of Beethoven's early Trio, and a performance
of the late Trio by Brahms which generates real intensity through
subdued dynamics, eloquent phrasing and responsive teamwork...altogether
a splendidly enjoyable programme, with Cohler's extensive notes...an
interesting bonus."
Minnesota Public Radio
The CD was also recently featured on Minnesota
Public Radio's Classical Tracks in a story by Julie Amacher.
Minnesota Public Radio®
is one of the nation's premier public radio organizations. With headquarters
in the heart of downtown St. Paul, Minnesota Public Radio operates
a regional network of 38 stations, covering Minnesota and parts of
Wisconsin, the Dakotas, Michigan, Iowa and Idaho. With 850,000 listeners
each week, it has the largest audience of any regional public radio
network.
"This CD is the sixth solo recording released by Cohler and adds
to the growing list of definitive interpretations he has made of major
works from the clarinet repertoire."
"Jonathan Cohler is an acclaimed
soloist and chamber musician. He has been heard in concerts around the
world. His many recordings have been lauded by publications including
the American Record Guide, BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone... His collaborator
in this recording is Lithuanian-born pianist Rasa
Vitkauskaite. Initially trained in Vilnius, and later in Italy and
at the Boston Conservatory, she has won top prizes at international piano
competitions including the Rubinstein, Les Rencontres Internationales
des Jeunes Pianistes and the Mendelssohn Cup.
The success of the collaboration of these two world-class artists
is unquestionable and on vivid display throughout this CD. The duo's performances
achieve an ideal blend of elegance, delicacy, and joie de vivre. The listener
is struck by the easy virtuosity and inherent musicality of every performance,
and by the sensitivity and subtlety of Cohler and Vitkauskaite's ensemble
work."
"...flawless...dazzling...sensitivity and grace...sparkling
performances...Rhapsodie Francaise is a CD worthy
of any collection."
Some of the other artists chosen for the honor include Yo-Yo Ma, Luciano
Pavarotti, Helene Grimaud, Gustavo Dudamel with the Simon Bolivar Orchestra,
Claudio Abbado with the London Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Fournier, Leonid
Kogan, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Emil Gilels, and James Galway.
Fanfare Magazine
T
he current issue of Fanfare Magazine contains a nice recommendation
of my recording of the HindemithSonata and HoneggerSonatina recordings on Moonflowers,
Baby! as their preferred recordings of the works! Check out the
full Fanfare review here.
Boston Conservatory Recital
At the end of March, Rasa and I returned from
a wonderful tour of Asia where we played concerts in Beijing, Shijiazhuang,
Shanghai and Tokyo (check out the pictures on mine and Rasa's FB pages). Our
following recital at Seully Hall in Boston included much of the music that
we played on tour plus some other pieces. The concert also included two pieces
from our CD Rhapsodie
Francaise which just received a great write-up in the March-April
issue of Fanfare Magazine.
This is the tour poster made our top sponsor Gao's Royal Musical Collection.
Hope you like it!.
Longy Recital
I
played a recital with Rasa
Vitkauskaite on Sunday, Feb 1 at 7pm in Pickman Hall at The Longy
School. Here is a video clip of one of our favorite pieces from the concert!
For more info, check out the Facebook event page here.
We also played live on WGBH radio on Thursday, January 29 at 3pm on the
show Classical
Performances hosted by Richard
Knisely. If you missed, the show, you can listen to it here.
NEW CD with Claremont Trio!
My new CD Jonathan
Cohler & Claremont Trio(Ongaku 024-122) is out! You can listen
to sound clips on the Ongaku Records website and place orders for the disc
now! This CD was made in collaboration with the renowned Claremont
Trio and includes the Brahms and Beethoven trios and the Dohnanyi Sextet
with violist Mai Motobuchi (of the Borromeo Quartet) and hornist James Sommerville
(of the Boston Symphony Orchestra).
Simon Bolivar Symphonic Band
F
rom December 2 to 6, 2008, I spent an exciting week conducting the Simon
Bolivar Symphonic Band, and teaching masterclasses for the Clarinet Academy
of Simon Bolivar University. With the band we did an exhilirating performance
of Bernstein's Slava!, Ives' Variations on America,
Copland's El Salon Mexico, John Williams' Star Wars Trilogy,
Holst's Mars and Jupiter from The Planets, and Rimsky-Korsakov's
Capriccio Espagnol. The already short rehearsal schedule of 5
days, was shortened to 4 when airplane delays caused me to miss my connections
to Caracas! Despite that and the huge difficulty of the program, the group
gave a stellar performance! The musical spirit and talent in Venezuela
is just electrifying. I'll definitely be headed back there again soon!!
NEW CD Rhapsodie Française
My CD, Rhapsodie
Française, is out, and it includes most of the core repertoire
of the "French school." The pianist on the CD is an amazing young
multiple prize winning Lithuanian pianist named Rasa
Vitkauskaite. She and I are planning to make several more CDs in the coming
seasons. It is already available for orders on the Ongaku
Records website as well as from Amazon and CD Baby among others.
NEW Live Audio
I posted MP3's of several of my recent live performances
on my Recordings page. Click here or access "Recordings"
in the menu above.
Iowa Clarinet Day
I
n September 2008, I was the featured artist at the Iowa
Clarinet Day 2008. It was my first trip to Iowa and I had a great
time! Pianist Rasa
Vitkauskaite joined me in a recital there on September 6, and I also
taught several masterclasses at both Drake
University in Des Moines and Central
College in Pella. Visiting Pella was like walking on a movie set!
What a beautiful place, and the students were wonderful. Thanks go to
Cynthia Doggett and Clarence Padilla for organizing such a wonderful event!!
ClarinetFest, Kansas City
I
n July 2008, I performed a duo recital with Howard
Klug at the ClarinetFest
in Kansas City, Missouri. We premiered several new works for two clarinets
and piano in various combinations. The new works included a great new
duo by Simon Sargon called "Birds
of a Feather.." for two A clarinets. Two other premieres included
Don FreundRite
Now! and Michael KibbeShiva Dances (both for clarinet, bass clarinet and piano).
It was a great pleasure to collaborate once again with renowned pedagogue
and performer Howard Klug who played some amazing bass clarinet! See
pics here
Domaine Forget
I
n June 2008, I taught and performed at the beautiful Domaine
Forget festival in St. Irenée, Quebec. The students there were
wonderful, the festival was expertly managed and organized and all of
my colleagues were world class! I spent a wonderful week teaching along
side Marie
Picard and Lawrie Bloom. While
there I also had the great opportunity to perform StockhausenIn Freundschaft on a special Stockhausen memorial concert.
That was a special treat. My last night there I had the great privilege
of hearing the phenomenal pianist Gabriela
Montero play several breathtakingly beautiful and amazing improvisations
based on themes offered from the audience. Wow! I will remember that forever.
Lawrie, Marie and I had a great time working together both in teaching
clarinet and winning at ping pong! And Marie Picard was the most gracious
host ever!
Simon Bolivar Symphonic Band
In November 2007, I was in Caracas, Venezuela
for 10 days. While there I conducted a wonderful performance of the Simon
Bolivar Symphonic Band playing RespighiPines
of Rome and ShostakovichSymphony No. 5 Finale,
as well as the Rimsky-KorsakovClarinet Concerto
with soloist Jorge Montilla and several other works. I also taught masterclasses
every day as part of the new Masters Degree program in clarinet of the Universidad
Simon Bolivar. Pictures of the band, soloists, me, the students, my masterclasses
and the dancing afterwards are all here!
Longy Recital
On October 7, 2007, I played a faculty recital
at the Longy School of Music. Joining me on the program was a fabulous young
piano trio with Judith Lee (violin), Tess Remy-Schumacher (cello) and Christopher
Cooley (piano). A few pictures from the reception after the concert are here.
Campos do Jordao
In July 2007, I taught and performed at the
International Winter Festival of Campos do Jordao,
Brazil where the weather was cooler than last year (sometimes as low as 32
degrees F at night) but when it was beautiful and sunny in the day time, it
was more like ~75 degrees F. I had six wonderful fellowship students there
from Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina and Costa Rica. I conducted a performance
of the Dvorak Serenade for Winds, Op. 44. Here are the 200+
pictures I took while there.
ClarinetFest, Vancouver
ClarinetFest
2007 took place in Vancouver, Canada from July 4 to 8 on the campus of
the University of British Columbia. A good
time was had by all. I played a recital there in the beautiful Chan
Centre for the Performing Arts and taught a musical interpretation masterclass
featuring some of the contestants (and winners!) of the orchestral and solo
competitions.
YPO China Tour
O
n June 30, 2007, I returned from a two-and-a-half-week tour of China with
the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra of NEC. As always, this YPO tour was
a thrilling experience for all involved. The orchestra played 12 concerts
in 14 days in 10 cities! We visited Beijing, Shichiazhuang, Tianjin, Shenyang,
Anshan, Yingkou, Chongqing, Suzhou, Ningbo, and Shanghai. I took more
than 600 pictures of the tour, so you can see them and make prints from
snapfish.com by
clicking here.
The clarinet faculty included yours truly, Valdemar Rodriguez (Simon
Bolivar Orchestra), Jessica Philipps (New York Metropolitan Opera),
Robert Spring (soloist), and Michael Norsworthy (soloist, Boston
Conservatory). We also had the brilliant, young Claremont
Trio in residence and three fabulous pianists: Shizue
Sano, Eliko Akahori, and Yoko Kida.
Here's a live performance of me with the Claremont
Trio playing the sixth
Bruch piece! From left to right, that's Julie Bruskin (cello),
Emily Bruskin (violin), me, and Donna Kwong (piano).
Here's a live performance of me with the Claremont Trio playing the third
movement of Beethoven
Trio, Op. 11!
Paquito D'Rivera
Listen to this live recording of me and Paquito
D'Rivera playing his piece Contradanza
from Paquito's Aires Tropicales Suite. Alon Yavnai is the formidable
pianist. See if you can tell which one is Paquito and which one is me!
Fischoff Competition 2007
In May 2007, I took seven groups that I coach
to compete in both the Junior and Senior Divisions of the Fischoff
Competition. All seven made the Quarterfinals, three made the Semifinals
and one of my groups, Attacca Quartet, won 3rd Prize in the Junior Division!
For pictures of the trip, click
here.
Simon Bolivar Orchestra
In April 2007, I had an wonderful time in Caracas
conducting the Simon Bolivar Orchestra! We did Bernstein's West Side Story
Suite of Symphonic Dances to celebrate the 50th anniversary of that revolutionary,
one-of-a-kind musical. Pictures
here. Video clips to come. Stay tuned!
Lisbon, Portugal
At the beginning of March 2007, I was featured
at the 10th International Clarinet Festival of Lisbon. The festival
was held in a beautiful palace, so I guess we got the "royal" treatment!
As always, the seafood was delicious, and although the weather was unseasonably
cold the performances by artists from all over the world were wonderful. I
got a chance to collaborate with the superb Lisbon
Clarinet Quartet on "Aires Tropicales" by Paquito D'Rivera
and with Jessica Phillips
of the New York Metropolitan Opera orchestra (and a former student) on "Il
Covegno" by Amilcare Ponchielli. My wonderful pianist was Aniko Harangi.
Pictures from Lisbon
Shanghai
In February 2007, Shanghai was an eye-opener
once again. The rate of construction and growth in that city and at the Conservatory
is simply phenomenal. The clarinet students there are uniformly excellent,
and as always the food is delectable and plentiful. Masterclasses almost every
day plus rehearsals and a recital made for a busy time. But I was very happy
to play together with my former student Izumi Fujiyama who has developed into
first-rate professional. My excellent pianist was Xie Beni. Pictures
from Shanghai
Texas All-State Orchestra
In January 2007, I had a transformational experience
conducting the Texas All-State Orchestra in an incredible performance of DvorakCarneval Overture and BartokConcerto for Orchestra.
What great people and what unbridled energy and talent! That was my first
experience with a standing ovation following the overture!
Campos do Jordao
S
ee my photos from the 2006 Festival
Internacional de Inverno de Campos do Jordão in Brazil. I was
there for a very exciting three weeks in July of masterclasses, conducting
and concerts. I played the MozartConcerto with the orchestra
from Santo André and the MozartQuintet as well as
the MartinuNonet.
The Enterprise
Read the great story from The Enterprise on Sunday,
April 23, 2006 here.
Simon Bolivar Orchestra
In January 2006, I was inCaracas,
Venezuela, where I conducted ShostakovichSymphony No. 5 with
the Orquesta Sinfonica Simon Bolivar. Wow what an orchestra! The musical spirit
in Venezuela is absolutely incredible. I also played a recital and taught
several masterclasses there.
ClarinetFest, Tama, Tokyo
In summer 2005, I was in Japan
and Taiwan where it was really hot!
From July 16 to July 24, I was in Tama, Tokyo at the ClarinetFest
and from July 30 to August 5, I was in Taipei at The 2nd International Clarinet
Festival of Taiwan where I played the Copland Concerto with the Evergreen
Symphony Orchestra at the National Concert Hall of Taiwan, a gorgeous hall.
YPO Venezuela Tour
In June 2005, I went on a tour of Venezuela
and Brazil with the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra of New England Conservatory.
IWWF 2005
The 2005 International
Woodwind Festival from May 31 to June 12 in Boston at The Boston Conservatory
was a big success. You can see pictures
from the festival too.
The Rite of Spring
Check out the video clip here from the Brockton
Symphony Orchestra performance of The
Rite of Spring in spring 2005 at Jordan Hall!
Lisbon, Portugal
In March 2005, I was in Lisbon,
Portugal.where the cod fish was great, and the people were even better!
While there I performed and taught as part of the 8th International Clarinet
Encounter of Lisbon.
Caracas, Venezuela
In November 2004, I was in Caracas,
Venezuela where I performed and taught at the 6th Festival de Jóvenes
Clarinetistas Venezolanos.
Argentina and China
During the summer of 2004, I spent a week
in Argentina and two weeks in China playing concerts, teaching, and conducting
in Rosario, Buenos
Aires, Yantai, and Changchun.
Pictures from Buenos Aires.
Pictures from festival in Yantai.
Pictures from festival in Changchun, China.
The site is updated regularly so stop by again soon!