List of Famous Clarinetists
- Woody Allen, born Allan Stewart Konigsberg on November 30, 1935, in Brooklyn, New York, has been a towering figure in the realm of entertainment, establishing a distinct niche for himself as a multi-faceted talent. His career spans over six decades, during which he has not only charmed audiences with his wit and humor as an actor but also etched his name in history as an accomplished director, screenwriter, and playwright. He wrote scripts for The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show, before branching out into stand-up comedy in the 1960s. However, it was his foray into filmmaking that brought him international acclaim. From his directorial debut with What's Up, Tiger Lily? in 1966, Allen went on to create a series of acclaimed films like Annie Hall, Manhattan, and Hannah and Her Sisters. His unique storytelling style, blending comedy with introspective examination of human relationships, won him numerous accolades, including multiple Academy Awards.The Best Woody Allen MoviesSee all
- 1Annie Hall531 Votes
- 2Crimes and Misdemeanors408 Votes
- 3Manhattan497 Votes
- Benny Goodman, born on May 30, 1909, in Chicago, Illinois, was an American jazz musician known for his exceptional talent as a clarinetist and bandleader. Goodman's musical journey began at a young age, with his first lessons taking place at the local synagogue. He later received training at the Hull House, where he was exposed to classical music. By the time he was 14 years old, Goodman was already playing professionally in various bands. His early exposure to different music genres greatly influenced his style, leading him to become one of the pioneers of swing music. Goodman's career took a significant turn in 1934 when he formed his own band, Benny Goodman and His Orchestra. The band gained fame with their weekly radio show Let's Dance, which introduced swing music to a wider audience. Goodman's orchestra was known for its energetic performances and innovative arrangements, often blending classical and jazz elements. This unique sound earned them the nickname "The King of Swing." Goodman's band was also notable for breaking racial barriers, as one of the first integrated jazz groups to gain widespread popularity. Throughout his career, Goodman made significant contributions to the music industry. He was known for his collaborations with other notable musicians, including Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Count Basie. His outstanding performances at venues like Carnegie Hall helped to elevate jazz music to a respected art form. Goodman's remarkable ability to blend different music styles, coupled with his commitment to racial integration in his band, has left a lasting legacy in the world of music. Despite his passing on June 13, 1986, Goodman's influence continues to be felt in contemporary jazz and swing music.
- Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, and actor. Also an author, Shaw wrote both fiction and non-fiction. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led one of the United States' most popular big bands in the late 1930s through the early 1940s. Though he had numerous hit records, he was perhaps best known for his 1938 recording of Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine". Before the release of "Beguine", Shaw and his fledgling band had languished in relative obscurity for over two years and, after its release, he became a major pop artist within short order. The record eventually became one of the era's defining recordings. Musically restless, Shaw was also an early proponent of what became known much later as Third Stream music, which blended elements of classical and jazz forms and traditions. His music influenced other musicians, such as John Barry in England, with the vamp of the James Bond Theme, possibly influenced by 1938's "Nightmare". Shaw also recorded with small jazz groups drawn from within the ranks of the various big bands he led. He served in the US Navy from 1942 to 1944, (during which time he led a morale-building band that toured the South Pacific amidst the chaos of World War II) and, following his discharge in 1944, he returned to lead a band through 1945. Following the breakup of that band, he began to focus on other interests and gradually withdrew from the world of being a professional musician and major celebrity, although he remained a force in popular music and jazz before retiring from music completely in 1954.
- Eric Allan Dolphy, Jr. (June 20, 1928 – June 29, 1964) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, bass clarinetist and flautist. On a few occasions, he also played the clarinet and piccolo. Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain prominence around the time that he was active. His use of the bass clarinet helped to establish the instrument within jazz. Dolphy extended the vocabulary and boundaries of the alto saxophone, and was among the earliest significant jazz flute soloists. His improvisational style was characterized by the use of wide intervals, in addition to using an array of extended techniques to emulate the sounds of human voices and animals. Although Dolphy's work is sometimes classified as free jazz, his compositions and solos were often rooted in conventional (if highly abstracted) tonal bebop harmony and melodic lines that suggest the influences of modern classical composers such as Béla Bartók and Igor Stravinsky.
- Evan Christopher is an American clarinetist and composer based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Recognized mainly for a personal brand of "contemporary early-jazz,” he strives to extend the legacy of the unique clarinet style anchored in the musical vocabulary created by early New Orleans clarinetists such as Lorenzo Tio Jr., Sidney Bechet, Omer Simeon, Barney Bigard, and Johnny Dodds.
- James Dorsey (February 29, 1904 – June 12, 1957) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, composer and big band leader. He was known as "JD". He recorded and composed the jazz and pop standards "I'm Glad There Is You (In This World of Ordinary People)" and "It's The Dreamer In Me". His other major recordings were "Tailspin", "John Silver", "So Many Times", "Amapola", "Brazil (Aquarela do Brasil)", "Pennies from Heaven" with Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, and Frances Langford, "Grand Central Getaway", and "So Rare". He played clarinet on the seminal jazz standards "Singin' the Blues" in 1927 and the original 1930 recording of "Georgia on My Mind", both inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
- Woodrow Charles Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd", Herman came to prominence in the late 1930s and was active until his death in 1987. His bands often played music that was cutting edge and experimental for its time; they received numerous Grammy nominations and awards.
- Chris Speed (born Seattle, Washington, 1967) is an American saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer.
- Sidney Bechet (May 14, 1897 – May 14, 1959) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He was one of the first important soloists in jazz, beating trumpeter Louis Armstrong to the recording studio by several months. His erratic temperament hampered his career, and not until the late 1940s did he earn wide acclaim.
- Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career in the 1920s he was a popular arranger, having written charts for Fletcher Henderson's big band that shaped the swing style. He had an unusually long career that lasted into the 1990s. During the 1980s and '90s, he was nominated for eight Grammy Awards, which included receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award.
- Paulo Moura was a Brazilian clarinetist and saxophonist. Born in São José do Rio Preto, where his father was the maestro of a marching band and encouraged his son to train as a tailor, Paulo instead studied in the National Music School and performed with the Brazilian Symphonic Orchestra. He was the first black artist to become first clarinetist in the Municipal Theatre Orchestra. He appeared at Bossa Nova night at Carnegie Hall in 1962 with Sérgio Mendes, the two of them also featuring on Cannonball Adderley's 1962 album, Cannonball's Bossa Nova. He won the Sharp Award for the most popular instrumentalist of the year in 1992. His CD Paulo Moura e Os Oito Batutas was listed by Barnes & Noble as one of the top 10 recommendations of the year for 1998. From 1997 to 1999, he was on the State Council of Culture in Rio de Janeiro, a Councillor of the Federal Council of Music, and President of the Museum Foundation of Image and Sound. In 2000, Moura became the first Brazilian instrumentalist to win the Latin Grammy. Moura died of lymphoma three days before his 78th birthday. He was married to Halina Grynberg and had two sons, Pedro and Domingos.
Charles Neidich
Charles Neidich is an American classical clarinetist, composer, and conductor.- Gerald Joseph Mulligan (April 6, 1927 – January 20, 1996) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though Mulligan is primarily known as one of the leading jazz baritone saxophonists – playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz – he was also a significant arranger, working with Claude Thornhill, Miles Davis, Stan Kenton, and others. Mulligan's pianoless quartet of the early 1950s with trumpeter Chet Baker is still regarded as one of the best cool jazz groups. Mulligan was also a skilled pianist and played several other reed instruments. Several of his compositions, such as "Walkin' Shoes" and "Five Brothers", have become jazz standards.
- Joseph Salvatore Lovano (born December 29, 1952) is an American jazz saxophonist, alto clarinetist, flautist, and drummer. He has earned a Grammy Award and several mentions on Down Beat magazine's critics' and readers' polls. He is married to jazz singer Judi Silvano with whom he records and performs. Lovano was a longtime member of a trio led by drummer Paul Motian.
- Dr. Michael White (born 29 November 1954 in New Orleans) is a jazz clarinetist, bandleader, composer, jazz historian and musical educator. Scott Yanow, a jazz critic, said in a review that White "displays the feel and spirit of the best New Orleans clarinetists."
- Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most influential players on his instrument. In contrast to many of his hard-driving peers, Young played with a relaxed, cool tone and used sophisticated harmonies, using what one critic called "a free-floating style, wheeling and diving like a gull, banking with low, funky riffs that pleased dancers and listeners alike".Known for his hip, introverted style, he invented or popularized much of the hipster jargon which came to be associated with the music.
- Marty Ehrlich (born May 31, 1955) is a multi-instrumentalist (saxophones, clarinets, flutes) and is considered one of the leading figures in avant-garde jazz.
- Sir Colin Rex Davis (25 September 1927 – 14 April 2013) was an English conductor, known for his association with the London Symphony Orchestra, having first conducted it in 1959. His repertoire was broad, but among the composers with whom he was particularly associated were Mozart, Berlioz, Elgar, Sibelius, Stravinsky and Tippett. He studied as a clarinettist, but was intent on becoming a conductor. After struggles as a freelance conductor from 1949 to 1957, he gained a series of appointments with orchestras including the BBC Scottish Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. He also held the musical directorships of Sadler's Wells Opera and the Royal Opera House, where he was principal conductor for over fifteen years. His guest conductorships included the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and the Dresden Staatskapelle, among many others. As a teacher, Davis held posts at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and the Landesgymnasium für Musik "Carl Maria von Weber" (preparatory school for music) in Dresden. He made his first gramophone recordings in 1958, and his discography over the next five decades was extensive, with a large number of studio recordings for Philips Records and a substantial catalogue of live recordings for the London Symphony Orchestra's own label.
- Alvin Batiste (November 7, 1932 – May 6, 2007) was an Avant-garde jazz clarinetist born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He taught at his own jazz institute at Southern University in Baton Rouge.His final album was a tribute produced by Branford Marsalis and also features Russell Malone and Herlin Riley.Several well-known musicians studied under Batiste while at Southern University. They include Branford Marsalis, Randy Jackson (American Idol), his brother Herman, Donald Harrison, Henry Butler, Charlie Singleton (Cameo), Ronald Myers and Woodie Douglas (Spirit).
- Philip Wells Woods (November 2, 1931 – September 29, 2015) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader, and composer.
- Albany Leon "Barney" Bigard (March 3, 1906 – June 27, 1980) was an American jazz clarinetist known for his 15-year tenure with Duke Ellington. He also played tenor saxophone.
- Nathaniel Shilkret (December 25, 1889 – February 18, 1982) was an American composer, conductor, clarinetist, pianist, business executive, and music director.
- James Peter Giuffre (, Italian pronunciation: [dʒufˈfrɛ]; April 26, 1921 – April 24, 2008) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, composer, and arranger. He is notable for his development of forms of jazz which allowed for free interplay between the musicians, anticipating forms of free improvisation.
- Derek Bermel (born 1967, in New York City) is an American composer, clarinetist and conductor whose music blends various facets of world music, funk and jazz with largely classical performing forces and musical vocabulary. He is the recipient of various awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship and the American Academy in Rome's Rome Prize awarded to artists for a year-long residency in Rome.
- Assif Tsahar (born Israel, June 11, 1969) is an Israeli tenor saxophonist and bass clarinetist. He has lived in New York City since 1990. He has performed with Cecil Taylor, Butch Morris, William Parker, Mat Maneri, Hamid Drake, Peter Kowald, Susie Ibarra, Rashied Ali, Warren Smith, Wilbur Morris, Le Quan Ninh, John Tchicai, Fred Anderson, Rob Brown, Roy Campbell, Gerald Cleaver, Agusti Fernandez, Ken Vandermark, Kent Kessler, Joe Daley, Herb Robertson, Cuong Vu, Chris Jonas, Ori Kaplan, Oscar Noriega, Roman Stolyar, Alex Harding, Steve Swell, Cooper-Moore, and Tom Abbs He founded the label Hopscotch Records in 1999. In 2006 he opens the music club Levontin7 with Daniel Sarid in Tel Aviv.
- Donald Byron (born November 8, 1958) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. He primarily plays clarinet but has also played bass clarinet and saxophone in a variety of genres that includes free jazz and klezmer.
- Sir John Phillip William Dankworth, CBE (20 September 1927 – 6 February 2010), also known as Johnny Dankworth, was an English jazz composer, saxophonist, clarinetist and writer of film scores. With his wife, jazz singer Dame Cleo Laine, he was a music educator and also her music director.
- David Krakauer (born September 22, 1956) is an American clarinetist who performs klezmer, jazz, classical music, and avant-garde improvisation.
- Richard Leslie Stoltzman (born July 12, 1942) is an American clarinetist. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, he spent his early years in San Francisco, California, and Cincinnati, Ohio, graduating from Woodward High School in 1960. Today, Stoltzman is part of the faculty list at the New England Conservatory and Boston University. Stoltzman is perhaps the best-known clarinetist who primarily plays classical music. He has played with over 100 orchestras, as well as with many chamber groups and in many solo recitals. Stoltzman has received numerous awards and has produced an extensive discography. His virtuosity and musicianship have made him a highly sought-after concert artist. In addition to classical repertoire, Stoltzman also plays jazz. Some of his recordings, such as his album New York Counterpoint, feature both jazz and modern music. In 1983, Stoltzman commissioned composer/arranger Clare Fischer to write a symphonic work using Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn themes. The result was The Duke, Swee'pea and Me, an eleven-minute orchestral work which Stoltzman performed worldwide.
- James Carter (born January 3, 1969) is an American jazz musician. He is the cousin of jazz violinist Regina Carter.
- Dave Oppenheim was a film score composer, conductor and musician.
- Jörg Widmann is a German composer and clarinetist. He lives and works in Munich and Freiburg.
- Charles Ellsworth "Pee Wee" Russell (March 27, 1906 – February 15, 1969), was a jazz musician. Early in his career he played clarinet and saxophones, but he eventually focused solely on clarinet. With a highly individualistic and spontaneous clarinet style that "defied classification", Russell began his career playing Dixieland jazz, but throughout his career incorporated elements of newer developments such as swing, bebop and free jazz. In the words of the poet Philip Larkin, "No one familiar with the characteristic excitement of his solos, their lurid, snuffling, asthmatic voicelessness, notes leant on till they split, and sudden passionate intensities, could deny the uniqueness of his contribution to jazz."
- Gary Bartz (born September 26, 1940) is an American jazz saxophonist.
- Robert Sage Wilber (March 15, 1928 – August 4, 2019) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, and band leader. Although his scope covers a wide range of jazz, Wilber was a dedicated advocate of classic styles, working throughout his career to present traditional jazz pieces in a contemporary manner. He played with many distinguished jazz leaders in the 1950s and 1960s, including Bobby Hackett, Benny Goodman, Sidney Bechet, Jack Teagarden and Eddie Condon. In the late 1960s, he was an original member of the World's Greatest Jazz Band, and in the early 70s of Soprano Summit, a band which gained wide attention. In the late 1970s, he formed the Bechet Legacy Band. Wilber was active in jazz education, including working as director of the Smithsonian Jazz Repertory Ensemble. He wrote for films, including The Cotton Club. In his autobiography, Music Was Not Enough, he recounts his childhood, meeting his mentor Sidney Bechet, in 1946, and his struggles as a musician in the 1950s and 1960s. He died at the age of 91 in 2019.
Osmo Vänskä
Osmo Antero Vänskä (born 28 February 1953) is a Finnish conductor, clarinetist and composer. He started his musical career as an orchestral clarinetist with the Turku Philharmonic (1971–76). He then became the principal clarinet of the Helsinki Philharmonic from 1977 to 1982. During this time, he started to study conducting with Jorma Panula at the Sibelius Academy, where his classmates included Esa-Pekka Salonen and Jukka-Pekka Saraste. In 1982, he won the International Besançon Competition for Young Conductors. Vänskä became principal guest conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra in 1985, and chief conductor in 1988. He concluded his tenure with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra in 2008 and is now the orchestra's Conductor Laureate. His complete set of Sibelius symphonies with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, also on the BIS label, has garnered widespread acclaim. He has recorded extensively with the Lahti orchestra for the BIS label, including music by Kalevi Aho, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Bernhard Crusell, Uuno Klami, Tauno Marttinen, Robert Kajanus, Sofia Gubaidulina, Joonas Kokkonen, Jan Sandström, Jean Sibelius, and Fredrik Pacius. Vänskä was chief conductor of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra from 1993 to 1996. In 1996, he was appointed chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (BBCSSO), and served in that capacity until 2002. With the BBCSSO, he made recordings of the complete Carl Nielsen symphonies for the BIS label. In June 2014, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra announced the return of Vänskä to the orchestra as its next principal guest conductor, effective with the 2014-2015 season.In 2003, Vänskä became the music director of the Minnesota Orchestra. He and the orchestra have received critical praise, and he is generally regarded as having enhanced the quality of the orchestra. In 2004, Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra began a five-year project to record the complete Beethoven symphonies on the BIS label. In 2005, Vänskä signed a contract extension with the Minnesota Orchestra through at least 2011. In September 2009, the orchestra announced the extension of Vänskä's contract through the 2014–2015 season. He announced his resignation on 1 October 2013, one year after management locked out the musicians in a longstanding labor dispute. In January 2014 Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra won a Grammy for best orchestral performance for the album of Sibelius' Symphonies Nos. 1 and 4. He was re-appointed music director of the Minnesota Orchestra in April 2014 with a two-year contract, which was extended in May 2015 to last until August 2019. In July 2017, the orchestra announced a further extension of Vänskä's contract through the 2021-2022 season. In December 2018, the orchestra announced that he announced that he would not renew the contract when it expires in August 2022, but would act as guest conductor.In May 2008, an orchestral piece composed by Vänskä titled "The Bridge" was premiered by the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, led by William Schrickel, assistant-principal bassist of the Minnesota Orchestra. Vänskä himself attended the world premiere.In April 2019, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra announces the appointment of Vänskä as its next music director, effective January 2020, with an initial contract of 3 years.Vänskä has been married twice. He and his former wife Pirkko, a freelance drama critic, have three grown children, one of whom, Olli, plays violin in the Finnish folk metal band Turisas. The couple separated in 2009. In April 2015, Vänskä married Erin Keefe, the Minnesota Orchestra concertmaster. The couple maintain a residence in Minneapolis. In private life, one of his hobbies is riding motorcycles.- Paquito D'Rivera worked on a variety of projects during his entertainment career. D'Rivera worked on a variety of projects during his early entertainment career, including "Cachao: Like His Rhythm There Is No Other" (1993), "Happy Together" with Leslie Cheung (1997) and "The Other Cuba" (1984) starring Carlos Franqui. He also contributed to "Two Much" (1996). In the nineties, D'Rivera devoted his time to various credits, such as "Dance With Me" (1998) starring Vanessa Williams, "Actruis" (1999) and "Cradle Will Rock" with Hank Azaria (1999). He also worked on "The Americanos Concert" (PBS, 1999-2000). D'Rivera continued to exercise his talent in the nineties and the early 2000s, taking on a mix of projects like "The Cuban Americans" (PBS, 1999-2000), "Calle 54" (2000) and "Iron Chef America" (Food Network, 2003-2014). His credits also expanded to "Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus" (2006) starring Nicole Kidman. Most recently, D'Rivera worked on the dramatic adaptation "The Lost City" (2006) with Steven Bauer.
- Rudolf Dellinger (8 July 1857 – 24 September, 1910) was a German Bohemian composer and Kapellmeister. He almost exclusively composed operettas and was considered to be among the most outstanding composers of his time. Born into a family of Bohemian of instrument makers in Graslitz, Dellinger received musical tuition early in life. He studied at the School of Music in Prague between 1874 and 1879, and later at the Prague Conservatory, where he was taught piano by, among others, Julius Pisarowitz.After completing his musical education, he took a position as a clarinettist in Brno in 1880, then worked as a Kapellmeister in Passau, Eger, Prague and Salzburg. In 1883, Dellinger moved to Hamburg, where he worked at the Carl-Schultze-Theater. He wrote his first operettas there, which also premiered in Hamburg. On 2 February 1886, Dellinger married Anna Maria Eppich, an Austrian singer.In 1893, Dellinger was employed as Kapellmeister of the Residenztheater in Dresden, where he worked until his death at the age of 53.
- Walter Hekster (29 March 1937 – 31 December 2012) was a Dutch composer, clarinetist and conductor of classical music, specializing in contemporary classical music.
- William Basinski (born 25 June 1958) is an American avant-garde composer based in New York City. He is also a clarinetist, saxophonist, sound artist, and video artist. Basinski is best known for his four-volume album The Disintegration Loops (2002–2003), constructed from rapidly decaying twenty-year-old tapes of his earlier music.
- William Marcel "Buddy" Collette (August 6, 1921 – September 19, 2010) was an American jazz flutist, saxophonist, and clarinetist. He was a founding member of the Chico Hamilton Quintet.
- Edmond Hall (May 15, 1901 – February 11, 1967) was an American jazz clarinetist and bandleader. Over his long career Hall worked extensively with many top performers as both a sideman and bandleader and is perhaps best known for the 1941 chamber jazz song "Profoundly Blue," which is regarded as a pre-World War II jazz classic.
- Milton Mesirow (November 9, 1899 – August 5, 1972), better known as Mezz Mezzrow, was an American jazz clarinetist and saxophonist from Chicago, Illinois. He is well known for organizing and financing historic recording sessions with Tommy Ladnier and Sidney Bechet. He also recorded a number of times with Bechet and briefly acted as manager for Louis Armstrong. Mezzrow is equally well remembered as a colorful character, as portrayed in his autobiography, Really the Blues (which takes its title from a Bechet composition), co-written with Bernard Wolfe and published in 1946.
- Ken Vandermark (born September 22, 1964) is an American jazz composer, saxophonist, and clarinetist. A fixture on the Chicago-area music scene since the 1990s, Vandermark has earned wide critical praise for his playing and his multilayered compositions, which typically balance intricate orchestration with passionate improvisation. He has led or been a member of many groups, has collaborated with many other musicians, and was awarded a 1999 MacArthur Fellowship. He plays tenor saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, and baritone saxophone. He was also a member of NRG Ensemble.
- Bernard Stanley "Acker" Bilk, (28 January 1929 – 2 November 2014) was an English clarinettist and vocalist known for his breathy, vibrato-rich, lower-register style, and distinctive appearance – of goatee, bowler hat and striped waistcoat. Bilk's 1962 instrumental tune "Stranger on the Shore" became the UK's biggest selling single of 1962: it was in the UK charts for more than 50 weeks, peaking at number two, and was the first No. 1 single in the United States by a British artist in the era of the modern Billboard Hot 100 pop chart.
- Evan Ziporyn (b. Chicago, Illinois, December 14, 1959) is an American composer of post-minimalist music with a cross-cultural orientation, drawing equally from classical music, avant-garde, various world music traditions, and jazz. Ziporyn has composed for a wide range of ensembles, including symphony orchestras, wind ensembles, many types of chamber groups, and solo works, sometimes involving electronics. Balinese gamelan, for which he has composed numerous works, has compositions. He is known for his solo performances on clarinet and bass clarinet; additionally, Ziporyn plays gender wayang and other Balinese instruments, saxophones, piano & keyboards, EWI, and Shona mbira. Ziporyn is the Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Music at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as well as director of MIT's Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST). At MIT he directs Gamelan Galak Tika, an ensemble he founded in 1993, a group of 30 MIT students, staff and community members, devoted to the study and performance of new works for Balinese Gamelan. In 1992 Ziporyn founded the Bang on a Can All Stars, with whom he performed and recorded until 2012. He also was a member of Steve Reich and Musicians, with whom he shared a 1998 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance. He is currently a member of the Eviyan Trio, with Czech violinist/vocalist Iva Bittovà and American guitarist Gyan Riley. He has released albums on Cantaloupe, New Albion, New World, Victo, Airplane Ears, and CRI Emergency Music; his works have also been recorded on Naxos, Koch, Innova, and World Village. As a performer, he has recorded for Nonesuch, Sony Classical, and Point Music, among others. He has composed music for a wide range of ensembles worldwide, including Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project, the American Composers Orchestra, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Kronos Quartet, Brooklyn Rider, Ethel, cellist Maya Beiser, the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, the MIT Wind Ensemble, Gamelan Sekar Jaya, Sentieri Selvaggi, Gamelan Salukat, and Gamelan Semara Ratih. Evan Ziporyn was named a 2007 USA Walker Fellow by United States Artists, an arts advocacy foundation dedicated to the support and promotion of America's top living artists. He was born in Chicago, Illinois and now lives in Lexington, Massachusetts with composer Christine Southworth. He is the brother of Brook Ziporyn and Terra Ziporyn Snider, and has two children, Leonardo Ziporyn and Ava Ziporyn.
- Claude Luter (23 July 1923 – 6 October 2006) was a jazz clarinetist who doubled on soprano saxophone. Luter was born and died in Paris. He began on trumpet, but switched to clarinet. He might be best known for being an accompanist to Sidney Bechet when he was in Paris, but he also worked with Barney Bigard and French writer and musician Boris Vian.
- Michel Portal (born 27 November 1935) is a French composer, saxophonist, and clarinetist. He plays both jazz and classical music and is considered to be "one of the architects of modern European jazz".
- Phillip Rista "Phil" Nimmons, (born June 3, 1923) is a Canadian jazz clarinetist, composer, bandleader, and educator.
- Kinan Azmeh (born June 10, 1976 in Damascus) is a Syrian clarinet player and composer of contemporary music.
- Dave Woodhouse is a musician, clarinetist, trumpeter and pianist.
- Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges (July 25, 1907 – May 11, 1970) was an American alto saxophonist, best known for solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years. Hodges was also featured on soprano saxophone, but refused to play soprano after 1946. He is considered one of the definitive alto saxophone players of the big band era (along with Benny Carter).After beginning his career as a teenager in Boston, Hodges began to travel to New York and played with Lloyd Scott, Sidney Bechet, Luckey Roberts and Chick Webb. When Ellington wanted to expand his band in 1928, Ellington's clarinet player Barney Bigard recommended Hodges. His playing became one of the identifying voices of the Ellington orchestra. From 1951 to 1955, Hodges left the Duke to lead his own band, but returned shortly before Ellington's triumphant return to prominence – the orchestra's performance at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival.
- Karel Krautgartner (July 20, 1922 – September 20, 1982) was a Czech jazz and classical clarinetist, saxophonist, arranger, composer, conductor and teacher.
Meyer Kupferman
Meyer Kupferman (July 3, 1926 – November 26, 2003) was an American composer and clarinetist.- Glen Hall is a saxophonist, clarinetist, composer, teacher, arranger, record producer and multi-instrumentalist.
- Victor Goines (born August 6, 1961 in New Orleans, Louisianais a jazz saxophonist and clarinetist. From 2000 to 2007, he was director of the jazz program at Juilliard. He has been a member of Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the Wynton Marsalis Septet since 1993. Goines has served as the director of jazz studies and professor for the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University since 2008. Goines has collaborated with Terence Blanchard, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ruth Brown, Ray Charles, Bo Diddley, Bob Dylan, Dizzy Gillespie, Freddie Green, Lionel Hampton, Freddie Hubbard, B.B. King, Lenny Kravitz, Branford Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis, James Moody, Dianne Reeves, Marcus Roberts, Diana Ross, Eric Clapton, Wycliffe Gordon, and Stevie Wonder. He has performed on more than 20 recordings, including the soundtracks for three Ken Burns documentaries and the films Undercover Blues (1993), Night Falls on Manhattan (1997), and Rosewood (1997). He has composed more than 75 original works, including Jazz at Lincoln Center and ASCAP commissions. He has also served on the faculties of Florida A&M University, University of New Orleans, Loyola University of New Orleans, and Xavier University of Louisiana. Goines is an artist for Buffet Crampon and Vandoren.
- Joe Darensbourg (July 9, 1906 – May 24, 1985) was a New Orleans based jazz clarinetist and saxophonist notable for his work with Buddy Petit, Jelly Roll Morton, Charlie Creath, Fate Marable, Andy Kirk, Johnny Wittwer, Kid Ory, Wingy Manone, Joe Liggins and Louis Armstrong.
- William Overton Smith (born September 22, 1926) is an American clarinetist and composer. He has worked extensively in modern classical music, Third Stream and jazz, and is perhaps best known for having played with pianist Dave Brubeck intermittently from the 1940s to the early 2000s. Smith frequently recorded jazz under the name Bill Smith, but his classical compositions are credited under the name William O. Smith.
Jack Golly
Jack Golly was a musician, trumpeter, saxophonist, clarinetist and vocalist.Leslie Dunner
Leslie Byron Dunner (born January 5, 1956) is an American conductor and composer.- Andrew (Andy) Findon is an English woodwind player. He was educated at Harrow County School and The Royal College of Music. He has been baritone saxophone and flute player in the Michael Nyman Band since 1980, and is also a member of The Home Service and Acoustic Earth. He is a Pearl Flutes International Artist and endorsee of Forestone reeds. He is the owner of the platinum flute built by Charles Morley in 1950 for Geoffrey Gilbert. Apart from appearances on hundreds of other people's albums as a session player, he has written and recorded for EMI’s KPM, Made Up Music, and Inspired Music libraries and featured on solo panpipe CD’s for Virgin, Crimson and EMI. Tracked was released on the “Quartz” label in 2005, and When The Boat Comes In in 2007. In 2008, Findon transcribed and recorded Michael Nyman's "Yamamoto Perpetuo" for solo flute, an eleven movement, 37 minute work. In August 2011 he released Density 21.5, an unaccompanied CD with the Nimbus Alliance record label. The Dancing Flute a CD of compositions for flutes and piano by pianist/composer Geoff Eales was released in May 2013 by Nimbus.
- Arlene Alda is an American musician, photographer and writer. She began her career playing clarinet professionally, then moved on to photography and writing children's books. She is married to actor Alan Alda.
- Jesper Thilo (born 28 November 1941) is a Danish jazz musician, mainly known as a tenor saxophonist, alto saxophonist and clarinetist. He is considered to be one of the top European straight-ahead jazz musicians of the post-1970 period. Ben Webster and Coleman Hawkins were early influences, while he later developed a highly personal sound reminiscent of Zoot Sims. Thilo first recorded as a leader for Storyville Records in 1973 and in the 1980s on Storyville his sidemen at various times included Kenny Drew, Clark Terry and Harry "Sweets" Edison. In the 1980s he also played in the Ernie Wilkins's Almost Big Band. Thilo also appears on the Miles Davis album Aura recorded in 1985. In 1991 he worked with Hank Jones in a quintet.
- Rolv Helge Wesenlund (17 September 1936 – 18 August 2013) was a Norwegian comedian, singer, clarinetist, writer and actor.
- Anat Cohen (born December 31, 1979) is a multiple Grammy nominated New York City-based jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, and bandleader from Tel Aviv, Israel.
- Alcide Patrick Nunez (March 17, 1884 – September 2, 1934), also known as Yellow Nunez and Al Nunez, was an American jazz clarinetist. He was one of the first musicians of New Orleans to make audio recordings.
Del Porter
Del Porter was an American jazz vocalist, saxophonist, and clarinetists who, in the 1930s, performed on Broadway, toured with Glenn Miller, and recorded with Bing Crosby, Dick Powell, and Red Nichols, and in the 1940s, led his own big band. Porter was a singer with the Foursome, which came to prominence in the 1930 Broadway hit show, Girl Crazy. Porter, the best known member of the quartet, co-founded City Slickers with Spike Jones about the time his group split up. With the Foursome's arranger and Porter's lifelong friend, Raymond M. Johnson, Porter reorganized the quartet around 1946 as the Sweet Potato Tooters.- Tale Ognenovski (Macedonian: Тале Огненовски) (April 27, 1922 – June 19, 2012) was a Macedonian multi-instrumentalist who played clarinet, recorder, tin whistle, bagpipe, zurna, and drums. He composed or arranged 300 instrumental compositions: Macedonian folk dances, jazz compositions, and classical concerts. On January 27, 1956, he performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City as a clarinet and reed pipe (recorder) soloist of the Macedonian State Ensemble of Folk Dances and Songs. For this Carnegie Hall concert The New York Times music critic John Martin, wrote two articles: "Ballet: Yugoslav Folk Art; 'Tanec' Dancers Appear at Carnegie Hall in Display of Tremendous Skill" ", published on January 28, 1956, and "The Dance: Folk Art; Group From Yugoslavia In Impressive Debut Learning vs. Magic No Macedonian Monopoly The Week's Events", published on February 5, 1956. Dance Observer commented, "The capacity audience at Carnegie Hall on January 27 for the single New York performance of Tanec, the Yugoslav National Folk Ballet, enjoyed a fascinating cross-section of over 2000 years of human history and culture. Tanec is a Macedonian group." Life commented, "This spring, the Yugoslav National Folk Ballet is making a first, and highly successful tour of the U.S...Together they make as vigorous a display of dancing as the U.S. has ever seen." Craig Harris at Allmusic noted for Macedonian National Ensemble for Folk Dances and Songs "Tanec" and clarinetist Tale Ognenovski, "The ensemble reached their peak during the late '50s, when influential clarinet and pipes player Tale Ognenovski was a member."All About Jazz celebrated April 27, 2009, the birthday of Tale Ognenovski with All About Jazz recognition: Jazz Musician of the Day: Tale Ognenovski, with announcement published at his website. Tale Ognenovski won top honors on October 11, 2003 at Macedonian Parliament as the Winner of "11 October" Award, the highest and the most prestigious national award in Republic of Macedonia. Ognenovski was included in the book The Greatest Clarinet Players of All Time: Top 100 by Alex Trost and Vadim Kravetsky. Tale Ognenovski and his son Stevan Ognenovski arranged for two clarinets Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K.622, composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and recorded the albums Mozart and Ognenovski Clarinet Concertos and Mozart Clarinet Concerto in A, K. 622 Arranged for Two Clarinets by Tale Ognenovski . Perhaps these two albums are unique recordings of this concert with two clarinets where first clarinet with first arrangement and second clarinet with second arrangement that's played simultaneously – by one performer (Tale Ognenovski). Top40-Charts News published an article entitled, "Mozart and Ognenovski Is the Best Clarinet Concertos in the World" on November 21, 2014.
- Peter Brötzmann (born 6 March 1941) is a German free jazz saxophonist and clarinetist.
- Tony Scott (born Anthony Joseph Sciacca June 17, 1921 – March 28, 2007) was an American jazz clarinetist and arranger known for an interest in folk music around the world. For most of his career he was held in high esteem in new-age music circles because of his decades-long involvement in music linked to Asian cultures and to meditation.
- Pierre Dewey LaFontaine Jr. (July 3, 1930 – August 6, 2016), known professionally as Pete Fountain, was an American jazz clarinetist.
- Chico Freeman (born Earl Lavon Freeman Jr.; July 17, 1949) is a modern jazz tenor saxophonist and trumpeter and son of jazz saxophonist Von Freeman. He began recording as lead musician in 1976 with Morning Prayer, won the New York Jazz Award in 1979 and earned the Stereo Review Record of the Year in 1981 for his album The Outside Within.
- Eddie Daniels (born October 19, 1941) is an American musician and composer. Although he is best known as a jazz clarinetist, he has also played alto and tenor saxophones, as well as classical music on clarinet.
Hal McIntyre
Hal McIntyre (born Harold William McIntyre; November 29, 1914, Cromwell, Connecticut – May 5, 1959 Los Angeles, California) was an American saxophonist, clarinetist, and bandleader. McIntyre played extensively as a teenager and led his own octet in 1935. Shortly thereafter, he was offered a temporary slot as an alto saxophonist behind Benny Goodman; this lasted only ten days, but Glenn Miller heard of his ability and drafted him as a founding member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra, where he played from 1937 to 1941. Miller encouraged McIntyre to start his own group again, and the McIntyre Orchestra first played in New Rochelle, New York in 1941; the ensemble included vocalists Gloria Van, Ruth Gaylor, and Al Nobel, bassist Eddie Safranski, and saxophonist Allen Eager. They played many major ballrooms throughout the United States, and played overseas for troops during World War II. He toured extensively with songstress Sunny Gale until the summer of '51. He maintained the orchestra into the 1950s, backing The Mills Brothers for their 1952 smash hit "Glow Worm". He co-wrote the song "Daisy Mae" with Billy May which was recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra. McIntyre was critically injured in an apartment fire in 1959, and died at a hospital a few days later. His, son, Hal Jr. (dec'd), was a talented saxophone and clarinet player who attended Berklee College of Music in the 1960s. In the 1970s, Hal Jr ran a big band in the Boston area, playing many of the original McIntyre Orchestra arrangements. He is survived by his daughter Patricia.- Larry Combs is an American clarinetist. His principal teachers were Stanley Hasty at the Eastman School of Music and Leon Russianoff in New York. He played clarinet with the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and the Santa Fe Opera before joining the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1974. He was appointed principal clarinet of the CSO by Sir Georg Solti in 1978. He has appeared as a soloist with the orchestra on many occasions. He retired from the CSO following the 2007-2008 season to spend more time teaching clarinet students at DePaul University. He is also a founding member of the Chicago Chamber Musicians. He has performed the Brahms Clarinet Trio with Daniel Barenboim and cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and has appeared at the Ravinia Festival with its music director, Christoph Eschenbach. Other appearances have been with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Smithsonian Chamber Players. + He is also a founding member of the Chicago Chamber Musicians. Combs is also a jazz aficionado. His Combs-Novak Sextet is one of the headliners at the 1999 Chicago Jazz Festival; he cut an album with jazz clarinetist Eddie Daniels, called "Crossing the Line"; and the Chicago Reader's Ted Shen wrote that he is "a Benny Goodman-like chameleon who can execute breathtaking arabesques and add a touch of eloquence to the plainest phrase." He was a clinician for the G. Leblanc Company, which made the Opus II clarinets he helped to design, and the Larry Combs models of clarinet mouthpieces. He is married to Gail Williams, a horn professor at Northwestern University, and retired Associate Principal Horn of the Chicago Symphony.
- Joe Marsala (January 4, 1907 – March 4, 1978) was an Italian-American jazz clarinetist and songwriter. His younger brother was trumpeter Marty Marsala and he was married to jazz harpist Adele Girard.
Colin Stetson
Colin Stetson (born March 3, 1975) is an American-born Canadian saxophonist, multireedist, and composer. He is best known as a regular collaborator of the indie rock acts Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, Bell Orchestre, and Ex Eye. In addition to saxophone, he plays clarinet, bass clarinet, French horn, flute, and cornet. Stetson has released various solo releases, including his debut and subsequent albums New History Warfare Vol. 1, 2, & 3, a collaborative studio album with wife and violinist Sarah Neufeld entitled Never Were the Way She Was (2015), SORROW: A Reimagining of Henryk Górecki's 3rd Symphony (2016), and All This I Do for Glory (2017).- Anthony McGill (born 5 February 1991) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He is a practice partner of Alan McManus.McGill turned professional in 2010, after finishing fourth in the 2009/2010 PIOS rankings. McGill won the 2016 Indian Open after having never been beyond the quarter-final stage of a ranking event previously.
- William C. "Buster" Bailey (July 19, 1902 – April 12, 1967) was a jazz clarinetist.
- Boniface Ferdinand Leonard "Buddy" DeFranco (February 17, 1923 – December 24, 2014) was an Italian American jazz clarinet player. One of few clarinetists playing bebop, DeFranco was described by critic Scott Yanow as the leading American jazz musician on his instrument from the 1940s until Eddie Daniels came to prominence in the 1980s. In addition to his own work as a bandleader, DeFranco led the Glenn Miller Orchestra for almost a decade in the 1960s and '70s.
Hyacinthe Klosé
Hyacinthe Eléonore Klosé (October 11, 1808 in Corfu (Greece) – August 29, 1880 in Paris) was a French clarinet player, professor at the Conservatoire de Paris, and composer. Klosé is noted for his design improvements to the clarinet using the principles laid down by Theobald Boehm in his innovative work on the flute keywork. From 1839 to 1843, he enlisted the help of Louis-August Buffet of Buffet-Crampon fame, an instrument-making technician, to construct — what is known today as — the Boehm system clarinet. Klosé was second clarinet at the Théâtre Italien to Frédéric Berr beginning in 1836, then to Iwan Müller following Berr's death in 1838, finally becoming solo clarinet when Müller left in 1841. Klosé also wrote Air varie pour ophicleide et Piano (op. 21) which is available on a recording by the Trio Aenea, 2015. In the Paris Conservatory, Klosé had many notable pupils including: K.I. Boutruy, who received First Prize in 1852. A. Grisez, who received First Prize in 1857. Augusta Holmès Adolphe Marthe Leroy, who succeeded Klosé in his Paris professorship in 1868 Louis A. Mayeur, to whom he also taught the saxophone in the early 1850s I.G. Paulus, who received the "Légion d'Honneur" in the same year as Klosé Cyrille Rose, who received First Prize in 1847. Frédéric Selmer, who was so accomplished that a special "Prize of Honour" was created for him in his final year, 1852. Charles Paul Turban, who received Second Prize in 1864 and First Prize in 1865.- Johnny Dodds (; April 12, 1892 – August 8, 1940) was an American jazz clarinetist and alto saxophonist based in New Orleans, best known for his recordings under his own name and with bands such as those of Joe "King" Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Lovie Austin and Louis Armstrong. Dodds (pronounced dots) was the older brother of the drummer Warren "Baby" Dodds, one of the first important jazz drummers. They worked together in the New Orleans Bootblacks in 1926. Dodds is an important figure in jazz history. He was the premier clarinetist of his era and, in recognition of his artistic contributions, he was posthumously inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame. He has been described as "a prime architect in the creation of the Jazz Age."
- Giora Feidman (Hebrew: גיורא פיידמן; born 26 March 1936) is an Argentine-born Israeli clarinetist who specializes in klezmer music.
Paweł Mykietyn
Paweł Mykietyn (born May 20, 1971, Oława) is a Polish composer and clarinetist. By the year 2012, Mykietyn had written two symphonies, cello, piano and violin concertos, St. Marc Passions for soprano, narrator, choir and orchestra, some chamber music and musical King Lear. As a film composer he collaborated with Andrzej Wajda in Sweet Rush (2009), Jerzy Skolimowski in Essential Killing, and Małgorzata Szumowska in It.- Stanley Drucker (born February 4, 1929) is an American clarinetist. Born in Brooklyn, New York, of Ukrainian ancestry, Drucker began clarinet studies at age ten with Leon Russianoff, and remained his student for five years. He attended the High School of Music & Art (now the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, at Lincoln Square). Drucker entered the Curtis Institute of Music at age 15, but left Curtis after one year, recruited to the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. After a year, he worked with the Busch Little Symphony, organized by Adolf Busch. He then became principal clarinetist of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1948, Drucker won a post in the New York Philharmonic clarinet section. In 1960, he became the orchestra's principal clarinetist, where he remained for the duration of his career. His time with the New York Philharmonic has included nearly 150 solo appearances with the orchestra. He gave the first performances of clarinet concerti by John Corigliano and William Bolcom, both of these commissions for the New York Philharmonic. Drucker has appeared on two recordings of the Corigliano Clarinet Concerto, a studio recording conducted by Zubin Mehta and a live recording of the 1977 premiere performance conducted by Leonard Bernstein.In January 2008, the New York Philharmonic announced Drucker's retirement from the orchestra at the close of the 2008–2009 season, for a total of 61 years with the orchestra and 49 years as its principal clarinet. His final solo appearance with the orchestra was in June 2009, in performances of the clarinet concerto of Aaron Copland.Drucker is highly regarded for his musicianship and his longevity of service with the New York Philharmonic, totaling 10,200 concerts, such as expressed by Gustavo Dudamel in November 2007: "He's a legend. The history of the orchestra is in him." On Thursday, June 4, 2009, Drucker was awarded a Guinness World Record for longest career as a clarinetist after his performance of Aaron Copland's Clarinet Concerto with the orchestra. Guinness thus logged his Philharmonic career at "62 years, 7 months and 1 day as of June 4, 2009".In 2010, Stanley Drucker received an honorary doctorate in music from the University of Florida. Drucker is married to Naomi Drucker, former principal clarinetist of the North Carolina Symphony and current adjunct assistant professor of music at Hofstra University. They have two children, Leon, who is the double bassist for The Stray Cats under the stage name of "Lee Rocker", and Rosanne, an alternative-country singer–songwriter. Drucker has the distinction of being one of the few living orchestral musicians whose biography appears in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
Horrie Dargie
Horace Andrew Dargie (7 July 1917 – 30 August 1999) was an Australian musician and harmonicist.- Ken Peplowski (born May 23, 1959) is a jazz clarinetist and tenor saxophonist born in Cleveland, Ohio, known primarily for playing swing music. For over a decade, Peplowski recorded for Concord Records. In 2007 Peplowski was named jazz advisor of Oregon Festival of American Music and music director of Jazz Party at The Shedd, both in Eugene, Oregon.
James Campbell
James Campbell (b. Leduc, Alberta, near Edmonton, 10 August 1949) is a Canadian/American clarinetist. He has more than 40 recordings, a Juno Award, a Roy Thomson Hall Award, Canada's Artist of the Year, the Order of Canada, and The Queen's Golden Jubilee. Since 1988, Campbell has been teaching clarinet at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He has been the Artistic Director of the Festival of the Sound in Parry Sound, Ontario since 1985.He won the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Talent Festival and the JM International Clarinet Competition in Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1971. In 1972 he represented Canada at the 26th Congress of the International Federation of JM at Augsburg. Additionally, he was a semi-finalist in the Budapest International Clarinet Competition in 1970. He was a jury member on various competitions, including the 1987 Jeunesses Musicales International Competition in Belgrade, along with Walter Boeykens (Belgium), Thea King (UK), Ludwig Kurkiewicz (Poland), Milenko Stefanovic (Yugoslavia), Ernest Ackun (Yugoslavia), Marko Rudzak (Yugoslavia) and Stjepan Rabuzin (Yugoslavia) The Canadian Music Council named him artist of the year in 1989, and he was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 1997.Stephan Vermeersch
Stephan Vermeersch, is a Belgian performing and teaching musician in the disciplines of clarinet, bass clarinet and saxophone. As soloist he performs contemporary music and was invited to perform at contemporary festivals in Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Germany, U.K, US, Canada, Ukraine, Russia, Mongolia, Egypt, Lithuania and Japan. He has done many first performances and several pieces are dedicated to him. He also works with electronics and improvisation. He is soloist with the Rajhans Orchestra performing India-inspired music in India, Pakistan, US, UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Sweden, Egypt, Italy, Germany, Russia and Mongolia. For 14 years he was member of the contemporary clarinet quartet Ebony-kwartet with performances in the Benelux, Sweden, Ukraine, Mongolia and Lithuania In 2007 he started Duo Phoenix with soprano Françoise Vanhecke with 20th & 21st century repertoire from composers worldwide. They have performed in Italy, Ukraine, Lithuania and Belgium.Alvils Altmanis
Todd Levy
Todd Levy is an American classical clarinetist. He is principal clarinet of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and, during the summer months, the Santa Fe Opera. He is also on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. He made his debut at the age of seventeen performing the Paul Hindemith Clarinet Concerto at Lincoln Center. Mr. Levy won his first Principal Clarinet audition at the age of 18 when he was appointed Principal Clarinet of the Stamford (Connecticut) Symphony. Since then, some highlights of his solo career have included concerto appearances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival, with the Israel Philharmonic in Tel-Aviv, performances of the Johannes Brahms F minor Sonata arranged for clarinet and orchestra by Luciano Berio with Maestro Berio conducting, the World Premiere of Peter Schickele's Concerto for Clarinet and Flute with the composer conducting, the European premiere of John Harbison's Concerto for Clarinet and Oboe, and the World Premiere of Marc Neikrug's Clarinet Concerto in March 2010 with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. In addition, Mr. Levy was a featured soloist in the Mozart Bicentennial at Lincoln Center where he performed the Mozart Clarinet Concerto at the Mostly Mozart Festival. In November 1998, Mr. Levy performed George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue at the White House for President and Mrs. Bill Clinton. A frequent soloist for the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, Mr. Levy, at the request of choreographer Lar Lubovitch, performed the Mozart Clarinet Concerto in the U.S. Premiere of the Company's Concerto 622 at Carnegie Hall. Since then, he has collaborated with the company numerous times in performances of this work at New York's City Center and also with New York City Ballet Orchestra at the Dancing For Life AIDS benefit at Lincoln Center's New York State Theater. In 1988, Mr. Levy was invited by conductor Michael Tilson Thomas to become the principal clarinet of the New World Symphony where he stayed until 1993. In January 1996, Mr. Levy made his debut as guest principal clarinet with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in all eight performances of Janáček's The Makropulos Case with soprano Jessye Norman. Since that time and until coming to Milwaukee, Mr. Levy appeared regularly with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and as Eb clarinetist on all of the Met Chamber Ensemble concerts at Carnegie Hall with James Levine conducting and playing the piano. In addition to the Met, he has been guest principal clarinetist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, the Cincinnati Symphony, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the Orchestra of St. Lukes. An active chamber musician, he has collaborated with members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, Cleveland, Orion, Mendelssohn, Ying and Miami Quartets, the Beaux Arts Trio, Pinchas Zukerman, James Levine, Carol Wincenc, Paula Robison, Nancy Allen, Christoph Eschenbach, Richard Goode, Mitsuko Uchida, and Marc Neikrug. He was also clarinetist with the Naumburg Award-winning Aspen Wind from 1992–1997 and a participant at the Marlboro Music Festival for four summers. He has also given World Premiere performances of chamber music pieces by Joan Tower, Paquito DRivera, Morton Subotnick. Recent highlights are the launch of www.toddlevy.org, Principal Clarinet for 2005, 2006, 2008 seasons of the Tokyo Opera Nomori under Seiji Ozawa and Riccardo Muti in Tokyo, and Principal Clarinet with the 2006 Saito Kinen Festival Orchestra under Alan Gilbert. In 2010, he recorded and co-edited the new Boosey and Hawkes edition of the Bernstein Clarinet Sonata which is now in book/CD form. Mr. Levy can also be heard on the 2008 release of Marc Neikrug's Through Roses chamber work for the Koch label, together with violinist Pinchas Zukerman, actor John Rubenstein and the composer conducting. His latest recording of the Brahms Clarinet Sonatas with UWM faculty member Elena Abend on the Avie label was just released. In June 2007, he recorded three book/CD's entitled the "Clarinet Collection" for the G. Schirmer Instrumental Library Collection. He has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, BMG and Telarc. Mr. Levy is a graduate of the Juilliard School where he studied with David Weber (clarinetist). He performs exclusively on Selmer Signature Clarinets and Vandoren reeds and mouthpieces.Bo Van der Werf
Bo Van der Werf is a member of musical group, Brussels Jazz Orchestra.Rudolph Dunbar
Rudolph Dunbar (26 November 1907 – 10 June 1988) was a Guyanese conductor, clarinetist, and composer, as well as being a jazz musician of note in the 1920s. Leaving British Guiana at the age of 20, he had settled in England by 1931, and subsequently worked in other parts of Europe but lived most of his later years in London. Among numerous "firsts", he was the first black man to conduct the London Philharmonic Orchestra (1942), the first black man to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic (1945) and the first black man to conduct orchestras in Poland (1959) and Russia (1964). Dunbar also worked as a journalist and a war correspondent.Burt Hara
Burt Hara was principal clarinetist with the Minnesota Orchestra from 1987 until 2013. He is now the Associate Principal in the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Hara is a native of California. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1984 from the Curtis Institute of Music, where his principal teachers were Donald Montanaro, Yehuda Gilad, and Mitchell Lurie. Before coming to Minnesota, Hara served as principal clarinet of the Alabama Symphony. In 1996, Hara was appointed Principal Clarinet of the Philadelphia Orchestra by Wolfgang Sawallisch, but returned to Minnesota the following year. As a teacher, Hara has held positions at the University of Alabama and the University of Montevallo, and at the University of Minnesota and serves on the faculty at the Aspen Music Festival and School. Hara currently resides in Los Angeles with his family.Daniel Goode
Daniel Goode (born January 24, 1936) is an American composer and clarinetist. Daniel Goode was born in New York City. After graduating in 1957 from Oberlin College, he studied composition at Columbia University with Henry Cowell and Otto Luening, receiving an MA 1962. He pursued further studies at the University of San Diego with Pauline Oliveros and Kenneth Gaburo (Benary and Sandow 2001). Goode's works show influence from several sources, including bird song, Cape Breton fiddling, drone, Indonesian gamelan music, and minimal music (specifically music as a gradual process). Often two or more of these elements are combined in a single composition. Goode created and served as Director of the Electronic Music Studio of Livingston College, Rutgers University from 1971 to 1998 and is co-director of the DownTown Ensemble which he co-founded in New York in 1983 (Benary and Sandow 2001). As a clarinetist he is proficient in the technique of circular breathing, which he uses frequently in performances with the group. Since 1976, Goode has been a member of Gamelan Son of Lion, a Javanese-style iron gamelan ensemble dedicated to new music, for which he has composed many works. He has developed a special keyless clarinet made from a length of plastic pipe that allows him to play in the Indonesian slendro tuning system, which he plays with the group on occasion. His works are published by Frog Peak Music and Theodore Presser.- Theodor Franz Jörgensmann (born 29 September 1948 in Bottrop, Germany) is a jazz and free-improvising Basset clarinet player and composer. He has been a professional musician since 1975.
William Kushner
William Kushner is a clarinetist and conductor.Richard Mühlfeld
Richard Bernhard Herrmann Mühlfeld (February 28, 1856 – June 1, 1907) was a German clarinettist who inspired Johannes Brahms and Gustav Jenner to write chamber works including the instrument. The pieces that Brahms wrote for him are the Clarinet Trio, the Clarinet Quintet, and the Clarinet Sonatas. Mühlfeld originally joined the Meiningen Court Orchestra (Hofkapelle) as a violinist and changed to the clarinet three years later. Following the completion of Brahms's String Quintet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 111, the composer decided to end his compositional career. After Brahms listened to Mühlfeld play Weber's Clarinet Concerto No. 1 in F Minor, Mozart's Clarinet Quintet and some of Ludwig Spohr's works, his sound quality and musicianship inspired Brahms to start composing again. Brahms later wrote letters to an old friend, Clara Schumann, about the skill level he saw in this clarinettist's playing. Mühlfeld and Brahms soon became close friends. In appreciation of Mühlfeld's relationship to him, Brahms gave him a set of fine silver teaspoons with a monogram to the musician. Although Mühlfeld played the Quintet along with the Trio in a concert at London, the debut for those pieces were held at the Court of Meiningen in November 1891, with the Joachim Quartet playing the Quintet's strings part. Both Sonatas were held for the Meiningen Circle at the Palace of Berchtesgaden in the summer of 1894, with Johannes Brahms playing piano.Wilbur Schwartz
Wilbur Schwartz (17 March 1918 Newark, New Jersey – 3 August 1990 Los Angeles) was an American clarinetist, alto saxophonist, and dance band arranger who was widely known as a member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra.David Weber
David Weber (December 18, 1913 – January 23, 2006) was an American classical clarinetist known for the beauty of his tone, his inspired playing, and his influential teaching of the clarinet.Kimball Sykes
Kimball Sykes is a clarinetist.- Anton Paul Stadler (28 June 1753 in Bruck an der Leitha – 15 June 1812 in Vienna) was an Austrian clarinet and basset horn player for whom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote, amongst others, both his Clarinet Quintet (K 581) and Clarinet Concerto (K 622). Stadler's name is inextricably linked to Mozart's compositions for these two instruments.
David Shifrin
David Shifrin (born January 2, 1950) is an American classical clarinetist.Yoshiaki Onishi
Yoshiaki Onishi (大西 義明, Onishi Yoshiaki, born 1981 in Hokkaido, Japan) is a composer and conductor. He is a recipient of several international prizes and honors. He currently resides in the United States.Beth Custer
Beth Custer is clarinetist, singer and film score composer.- Perry Morris Robinson (September 17, 1938 – December 2, 2018) was an American jazz clarinetist and composer. He was the son of composer Earl Robinson.
Stafford Simon
Stafford Simon was a musician, tenor saxophonist, flautist and clarinetist.Ricardo Morales
Ricardo Morales (born 1972) is a classical clarinetist of Puerto Rican descent. Since 2003, he has been the principal clarinetist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Prior to that, he was the principal clarinetist at the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He currently serves on the faculties of the Juilliard School, Temple University and the Curtis Institute of Music. In September, 2012, he launched the Online Clarinet School with Ricardo Morales as a part of the ArtistWorks Classical Campus.Joaquin Valdepenas
Joaquin Valdepeñas is the principal clarinetist of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.Kurt Van Herck
Kurt Van Herck is a musician.- Margot Leverett is a New York-based clarinettist. Born in Ohio, she lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Buffalo, New York before studying at Indiana University School of Music. At Indiana, she was classically trained. Leverett later became interested in klezmer, a traditional musical style of the Jews of Eastern Europe. She studied with klezmer clarinettist Sidney Beckerman and was a founding member of The Klezmatics in 1985. The Klezmatics, a band associated with the Klezmer Revival of the 1980s and onward, would later become the first klezmer band to win a Grammy Award. In 1999, Leverett was a founding member of another klezmer band called Mikveh. This band is named after the mikveh, a traditional ritual bath in which Orthodox Jewish people immerse themselves. They released a self-titled album in 2001, described by Rambles magazine as "a potent and heady mix of passion and power." Mikveh calls itself a band whose music "reflects the experience of Jewish women," drawing on Yiddish song and klezmer instrumentation to produce a mixture of older pieces, newer adaptations of historical material, and original compositions.
Luís Afonso
Luís Afonso (also known as Montanha) is a Brazilian clarinetist and bass clarinetist. Afonso studied clarinet and bass clarinet at the Rotterdam Conservatoire under Walter Boeykens and Henri Bok. He has taught at São Paulo University since 1992. He plays clarinet in the Orquestra Sinfônica Municipal and Orquestra Jazz Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo. He also plays in a bass clarinet duo called Clarones with the Dutch Henri Bok, as well as in the acclaimed clarinet quintet Sujeito a Guincho.Anthony Gigliotti
Anthony Gigliotti (May 13, 1922 – December 3, 2001) was an American clarinetist and music teacher. He was one of the world's most famous and most accomplished classical clarinet players for most of the second half of the 20th century.Gigliotti grew up in South Philadelphia and lived in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He joined the Philadelphia Orchestra as its principal clarinetist in 1949 and continued in this position for 47 years. He was the designer of a unique clarinet and saxophone ligature that is named for him.Gigliotti died on December 3, 2001 at a hospital in Camden, New Jersey.Colby Owens
Colby Owens is a member of the musical group, Other Lives.Dick Parks
Dick Parks is a psychiatrist.Hal Jr. McIntyre
Hal Jr. McIntyre is the son of Hal McIntyre.- Sabine Meyer, born 30 March 1959, in Crailsheim, Baden-Württemberg is a German classical clarinetist.
Harry Parry
Harry Owen Parry (22 January 1912 – 18 October 1956) was a Welsh jazz clarinetist and bandleader.Parry was born in Bangor, Wales. He played cornet, tenor horn, flugelhorn, drums, and violin as a child, and began on clarinet and saxophone in 1927. After moving to London in 1932, he played with several dance bands, including Percival Mackey's, then led his own six-piece unit. He was engaged at the St. Regis Hotel in 1940 when he was selected by the BBC to lead the band for their Radio Rhythm Club show. He then proceeded to record over 100 titles for Parlophone Records with his sextet, which included George Shearing and Doreen Villiers as members. Following World War II Parry worked extensively for radio and television, including as a disc jockey. He toured worldwide as a bandleader in the late 1940s and 1950s, including in the Middle East and India. Parry was stylistically indebted to Benny Goodman, a comparison not lost on contemporary critics. He died in London.Van Phillips
Van Phillips was a film score composer.Michael Riessler
Michael Riessler is a film score composer and clarinetist.
