Press Release: Clarinet Serenade, September 20 & 21, 2010

Supplemental Information concerning the September 20-21, 2010 Concerts

Guest Artist: 

One of only two wind players to have been awarded the Avery Fisher Prize since the award's inception in 1974, Mr. Shifrin is in constant demand as an orchestral soloist, recitalist and chamber music collaborator.

Mr. Shifrin has appeared with the Philadelphia and Minnesota Orchestras and the Dallas, Seattle, Houston, Milwaukee, Detroit and Denver symphonies among many others in the US, and internationally with orchestras in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Korea and Taiwan.  In addition, he has served as principal clarinetist with the Cleveland Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra (under Stokowski), the Honolulu and Dallas symphonies, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and New York Chamber Symphony.  Mr. Shifrin has also received critical acclaim as a recitalist, appearing at such venues as Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall and Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall and the 92nd Street Y in New York City as well as at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.  A sought-after a chamber musician, he collaborates frequently with such distinguished ensembles and artists as the Guarneri, Tokyo, and Emerson String Quartets, Wynton Marsalis and pianists Emanuel Ax and André Watts.

An artist member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 1989, David Shifrin served as its artistic director from 1992 to 2004.  He has toured extensively throughout the US with CMSLC and appeared in several national television broadcasts on PBS’s Live From Lincoln Center.  He has also been the artistic director of Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Oregon since 1981.

David Shifrin joined the faculty at the Yale School of Music in 1987 and was appointed Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society of Yale and Yale's annual concert series at Carnegie Hall in September 2008.  He has also served on the faculties of The Juilliard School, University of Southern California, University of Michigan, Cleveland Institute of Music and the University of Hawaii.  In 2007 he was awarded an honorary professorship at China's Central Conservatory in Beijing.

Brightmusic Musicians Appearing:

Violin:  Dr. Gregory Lee, concertmaster of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra and assistant professor of violin at the University of Oklahoma.

Violin:  Katrin Stamatis, violinist with many symphony orchestras in New York and surrounding areas; guest professor of violin and viola at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.

Viola:  Royce McLarry, principal violist of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra and a music faculty member at Oklahoma Christian University.

Cello:  Jonathan Ruck, principal cellist of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra and assistant professor of cello at the University of Oklahoma.

Double Bass:  George Speed, principal bassist of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra and assistant professor of bass at Oklahoma State University.

Clarinet:  Chad Burrow, native Oklahoman; former principal clarinetist, Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra and associate professor of clarinet at Oklahoma City University; assistant professor of clarinet, University of Michigan; Co-Artistic Director of Brightmusic.

Bassoon:  Carl Rath, principal bassoonist of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra and associate professor of bassoon at the University of Oklahoma.

Bassoon:  Larry Reed, bassoonist with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra.

Horn:  Dr. Kate Pritchett, hornist with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra and a member of the music faculty at Oklahoma City University.

Horn:  William Scharnberg, principal hornist with the Dallas Opera Orchestra and the Wichita Falls Symphony, and a Regents Professor of the College of Music at the University of North Texas.

Musical Works To Be Performed:

Francis Poulenc, Sonata for Two Clarinets, op. 7:  Poulenc (1899-1963) was born to a wealthy French family, which afforded him the private study of piano and composition.  Initially intrigued by the music of Debussy, Ravel, Schoenberg, Stravinsky and Bartók, he became a member of the Les Six group which stressed lack of pretension, nostalgia and overt sentimentalism in their music.  He believed that the French, like the Germans and Russians, could “write profound music” but French music was “leavened with that lightness of spirit without which life would be unendurable.”  Poulenc’s Sonata for Two Clarinets is one of his earliest works, written at age 19 while he was in the French military service.  This short “miniature” work in three movements is scored for one B-flat clarinet and one A clarinet.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Serenade No. 11 for Winds in E-flat Major, K.375:  Mozart (1756-1791) wrote this work at age 26, early in his stay in Vienna.  After learning that the Austrian emperor Joseph had founded his own wind ensemble, Mozart composed three masterpieces for wind ensemble, including this work.  He originally wrote this work in 1781 as a sextet for two clarinets, two bassoons and two horns; the following year he revised it for an octet that added two oboes, the “Harmoniemusik” ensemble preferred by Emperor Joseph.  This Serenade is a five-movement work.  The central third movement is an Adagio, which is bounded on either side by Minuettos in the second and fourth movements, which are in turn bounded by Allegros in the first and fifth movements.  Mozart was himself serenaded on his name day (November 7) in 1781 by the original sextet version of the Serenade, which Brightmusic will play.

Bernard Hermann, Souvenirs de Voyage:  Hermann (1911-75) was a 20^th Century American composer whom many believe was the greatest film composer America, or perhaps the world, has yet produced.  He studied with Percy Grainger at NYU, began conducting on Broadway at age 20 and founded the New Chamber Orchestra.  He scored and conducted for the CBS radio network, and became the conductor of the CBS Symphony Orchestra in 1940.  When CBS eliminated its orchestra in 1955, he began an eight-film collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock.  Hermann is remembered for film scores such as Citizen Kane (1941), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960), Fahrenheit 451 (1966) and Taxi Driver (1976).  Hermann viewed himself as a composer who sometimes wrote music for films, not as a “film composer.”  Among his concert works is Souvenirs de Voyage (1967), a three-movement piece for clarinet and string quartet.  The movements are labeled “Andante Pastorale – Allegro,” “Berceuse” and “Andante Tranquillo Quasi Barcarolla.”

Amilcare Ponchielli, Il Convenio: Ponchielli (1834-1886) was a gifted 19^th Century Italian composer, primarily of operas, as well as a teacher, whose students included Puccini.  He started composing and conducting operas at age 21, after graduating from the Milan Conservatory.  It has been said that his humble and kind demeanor, and his lack of personal ambition, have constrained his place in music history.  Ponchielli composed Il Convenio (“The Tryst”) before 1857 as a divertimento for two clarinets and piano.  During the 19^th Century it was arranged for two clarinets and a string quintet, which is the version Brightmusic will play.  One critic has called it “a grand showpiece.”