• The Boston Woodwind Society is
proud to announce its annual Harold Wright Clarinet Merit Award Competition.
This award honors the memory and artistry of a legendary clarinetist and
carries a cash prize of $1,000. The competition takes place on Sunday, April
13, 2008 starting at 2pm in Room N-1 at the Longy School of Music, 33 Garden
Street, Cambridge, MA. All clarinetists between age 18 and 30 are eligible.
To apply online and for more information on programs sponsored by the Boston
Woodwind Society and past competition winners, go to the website at http://www.bwsweb.org/.
•
In November, I was in Caracas, Venezuela for 10 days. While there I conducted
a wonderful performance of the Simon Bolivar Symphonic Band
playing Respighi Pines of Rome and Shostakovich
Symphony No. 5 Finale, as well as the Rimsky-Korsakov
Clarinet 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!
•
OPEN AUDITIONS for the Massachusetts Phillharmonic
Orchestra are being held on Tuesday, December 11, 2007. MPO is a professional
orchestra. I am the Music Director and Jonathan
Girard is the Assistant Conductor. To sign up for auditions, click
here.
• 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.
Sound clips to come soon!
•
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 2007
took place in Vancouver, Canada this year 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.
•
On June 30, 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.
•
IWWF 2007 was a blast this summer from May
29 to June 10 at the Boston Conservatory. Check out this live performance
of the Ponchielli
Il Convegno
with
me and Jessica Phillips (New York Met). To view and get prints of pictures
from IWWF 2007 click
here for my photos or click
here for Kathleen's photos.
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!
•
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!
•
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.
• 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!
•
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
•
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
• In January 2007, I had a transformational experience conducting
the Texas All-State Orchestra in an incredible performance of Dvorak
Carneval Overture and Bartok Concerto for Orchestra.
What great people and what unbridled energy and talent! That was my first
experience with a standing ovation following the overture!
•
See my photos from the 2006 Festival
Internacional de Inverno de Campos do Jordão in Brazil. I was
there for a very exciting three weeks of masterclasses, conducting and concerts.
I played the Mozart Concerto with the orchestra from Santo
André and the Mozart Quintet as well as the Martinu
Nonet.
• Read the great story from The Enterprise on Sunday, April 23,
2006 here.
•
In January 2006, I was in Caracas,
Venezuela, where I conducted Shostakovich Symphony 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.
•
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.
• In June 2005, I went on a tour of Venezuela
and Brazil with the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra of New England Conservatory.
•
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.
• Check out the video clip here from the Brockton Symphony Orchestra
performance of The
Rite of Spring
in
spring 2005 at Jordan Hall!
•
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.
•
In November 2004, I was in Caracas,
Venezuela where I performed and taught at the 6th Festival de Jóvenes
Clarinetistas Venezolanos.
•
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.
• My new recording of the complete Quartet
for the End of Time by Olivier Messiaen. has been getting some
very nice reviews!
• Also, my recordings page includes
live performances of Bassi's Rigoletto and the Copland Concerto
at Jordan Hall in Boston.
