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In Memoriam 2020

 

 

 

8 December 2020

 

 

 

Colonel Eugene W Allen (Ret) - 5th Leader and Commander of the United States Army Band (Pershings Own) - In Memoriam

 

                   

  COL (Ret.) Eugene W. Allen | June 13, 1927 – December 8, 2020

                       Colonel Eugene Allen, former Leader and Commander of the The United States Army Band

died on December 8th at the age of 93. He embodied all that is best about being a soldier, patriot, musician, and citizen. In a military career that spanned 45 years of service to our nation, he rose through the enlisted and officer ranks to become the senior music director of the Armed Forces. He served in every type of position in the Army Band Program, to include duties as a performer, arranger, drum major, leader, commander, educator, and staff officer.

 

                      In 1976 Colonel Allen reached the top of his profession when he was selected to be the fifth Leader and Commander of The United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own.” He held that position until his retirement in 1990 when he was appointed Conductor Emeritus. A funeral service and burial at Arlington National Cemetery

24 November 2020

 

William Brannen - Acclaimed Clarinet Repair Craftsman - In Memoriam

 

http://www.brannenwoodwinds.com/

Evanston, Illinois USA

 

                      We have lost a giant in the clarinet world. Bill Brannen passed away last Tuesday in Evanston, IL. The renowned clarinet repair technician, a true artisan, was famous for his perfectionism, contributing to the artistry of many famous clarinetists, whose photographs lined the walls of his repair shop. It is fitting that his wife and repair partner Linda is in these photos, as she was always at his side, having done half of the repair work since 1975. Bill started Brannen Woodwinds in Chicago in 1967, moving his shop to Evanston in 1970. He previously worked for legendary mouthpiece maker Frank Kaspar. Frank Kaspar told anyone who would listen that Bill was the finest mechanic he’d ever met. The many visitors from all over the world who came to Evanston to have their clarinets “Brannenized” also benefited from hearing Bill’s stories about orchestral performances, the sounds of great clarinetists who had tested their clarinets there, and his vast knowledge about all things clarinet. He will be greatly missed. Rest in Peace dear friend.

s

 

 

26 October 2020

 

 

 

Edward Yadzinski - Clarinetist and Bass Clarinetist and Saxophonist in the Buffalo Philharmonic,  Faculty at the State University at Buffalo, and noted Composer and proponent of New Music, and Archivist for the Philharmonic- In Memoriam

                                                                                             

 

                  Edward Yadzinski is a graduate of Wilkes College and the Eastman School of Music. He joined the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra as a clarinetist and saxophonist in 1963 under music director Lukas Foss. As a chamber player with Foss, he performed at many venues for new music, including the Warsaw Autumn Festival and at the Festival for American Music at St.-Paul de Vence at the Maeght Gallery in Southern France. He also recorded Foss' Echoi, with the composer at the keyboard.

 

                 For many years, Yadzinski served on the performance faculty in the music department at UB, where he also lectured on acoustics for the department of physics.

In a sabbatical year Mr. Yadzinski performed and served on the faculty at the University of California at San Diego, during which time he lectured at the American-Japanese Conference on Acoustics in Honolulu, Hawaii.

 

               As a composer, Mr. Yadzinski has written a song cycle on the poems of Emily Dickenson, as well as a chamber work on the poetry of Stephen Crane. His original pieces for woodwinds are published by Alphonse Leduc, Paris.

 

              For many seasons, he has also served as the concert annotator of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also responsible for the Orchestra's historic archive.

As an amateur radio enthusiast, Mr. Yadzinski is a Life Member of the American Radio Relay League. He is also a member of the Acoustical Society of America.

 

 

 

20 September 2020

 

 

 

James Pyne, Celebrated Former Solo Clarinetist in the Buffalo Philharmonic, Professor Emeritus at Ohio State University, and Master Mouthpiece Craftsman with Professionals and Players Internationslly using them - In Memoriam

 

Dublin, Ohio USA

 

Biograhical Information and his Pyne-Clarion Firm hyperlinked here

 

 Tributes for James Pyne by Colleagues, many to be added soon

I was absolutely heartbroken to hear of the passing of my longtime friend and esteemed colleague, James Pyne.
Jim and I met during my first years in Cleveland, becoming close life long friends.
I will be forever grateful for the kindness, love, wisdom , knowledge and patience that he so graciously and willingly shared.
May you Rest In Peace dear Jim., and may your memory be a blessing to all who loved you!   Franklin Cohen  

 

 

 

 

 

11 August 2020

 

 

   

 

Denver, Colorado USA

 

James Ognibene - Renowned Bass Clarinetist in the Metropolitan Opera and Leading Soloist and Padagogue - In Memoriam

 

(In JIm's memory watch the US Marine Band Clarinets
on Wed. 8/12 @730pm ET here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oecaw-JKh0 )
Jim Ognibene, who played bass clarinet in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for 33 years and retired last year, has passed away after a long illness. Prior to the Met, Jim played in the Charlotte (NC) Symphony and before that in the US Marine Band for 4 years. Condolences to his family and many music colleagues. On a person note, Jim was the nicest person ever and an unbelieveable bass clarinet clarinet player. I'm so fortunate to have know him. Here's a youtube video with him talking about the bc. If I see an obituary, i will post it.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaFyHGwMIDY&fbclid=IwAR2DBhVjtwGlNiJDZHMFpbsVnvWBdkPVVCjDqCCdJqAai89qwv3XX6ol0Nw

 

 

A Tribute from VIP Jessica Phillips

 

Jessica Phillips
2h

               For 18 years I sat next to this humble, hilarious, incredible person. We saw each other through many ups and downs over the years, always with respect and a LOT of laughter. My first year in the orchestra, I often got in trouble for laughing at Jim's dry, often self-deprecating witticisms. Jim had the most amazing sound on the bass clarinet. Even though he liked to say "playing bass clarinet is basically hours of boredom followed by 3 minutes of sheer terror", he never ceased to amaze his colleagues across the orchestra with his musicianship. Even audience members knew he was a rockstar, especially during the Ring Cycle. Once, in having to end the rehearsal before finishing the Clemenza di Tito basset clarinet aria (for which Jim had already waited two hours to play), the conductor asked Jim "Are you ok?" and Jim instantly quipped "I make a living,” to which the entire orchestra roared in laughter, including the conductor. Even with his humor, Jim’s seriousness about bringing his absolute best each and every night, no matter what was going on, is one of the things I truly respected and loved about him. He was the consummate professional. My heart is so heavy that we have lost this gentle giant of the bass clarinet. He will be missed dearly. Words really cannot do him full justice, so for now, we hold him and his family in our hearts, and toast him on his way...

 

 

11 August 2020

 

Joseph Rabbai - Former Solo Clarinetist in the Metropolitan Opera and Major Player and Teacher in New York - In Memoriam

 

New York City USA

 

                  Joseph Rabbai has been principal clarinet of The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 1980. Prior to that, he was principal clarinet of The Israel Philharmonic, The American Symphony Orchestra, The Brooklyn Philharmonic, and a member of The New York City Opera Orchestra. He is also the principal clarinet with The Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, a position he has held since 1971. A graduate of Temple University and The Juilliard School of Music, Mr. Rabbai has been a teacher of clarinet and chamber music at a number of institutions including Queens College, Brooklyn College, The Graduate School of the City University of new York, The State University of New York at Purchase as well as at New Jersey City University. A highly respected New York recording artist, his records of works by Ned Rorem, Camille Saint-Saëns, and Olivier Messaien have met with much critical acclaim. An active participant in chamber music, Mr. Rabbai has performed extensively with the New York Philomusica and at The Caramoor Festiva

 

 

2 August 2020

 

 

 

Leon Fleisher - World Renowned Pianist and Professor at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland - In Memoriam

 

Baltimore, Maryland USA

 

                      Leon Fleisher (American pianist & conductor). He was one of the most renowned pianists and pedagogues in the world. Music correspondent Elijah Ho called him "one of the most refined and transcendent musicians the United States has ever produced". He was a leading American pianist in the 1950s and early '60s, who was forced by an injury to his right hand to channel his career into conducting, teaching and mastering the left-hand repertoire.

                     Leon Fleisher was born July 23, 1928, in San Francisco. His father, Isidor, was from Odessa; his mother, Bertha, from Chelm, a small town in Poland. They emigrated to the U.S. following World War I and met while living in lower Manhattan.

                    “With the passing of Leon Fleisher, the music world has lost one of its towering figures. Our hearts go out to Leon’s wife, Katherine, and his family and loved ones. For members of the Peabody family, it is a deeply personal loss. The name of Leon Fleisher has been synonymous with the Peabody Institute for more than six decades, his home since 1959. Leon’s remarkable gifts as a musician, pianist, and teacher, were matched only by his charm, wit, intelligence and warmth as a human being.

                   “As a member of the Peabody Conservatory faculty, Mr. Fleisher provided inspiration, guidance, and singular insight to hundreds of students over the years both in his piano studio and on the podium. His approach to teaching went as deep as possible – showing young artists how to connect a love of music to the world around them. 

                  “It seems simplistic to say that there was no one else like Leon. But that is the essence of it. We were extremely fortunate to have had this man in our midst for so many years. His impact here is profound and lasting, and his absence will be felt keenly throughout the Peabody community. We have lost a giant.” 

                  In 2012, Fleisher donated his concert and master class programs, press material, correspondence, itineraries, photographs, clippings, personal papers, and memorabilia to the Peabody Archives. More than 1,000 of these items have been digitized and are available through the Fleisher digital collection

                          A memorial fund has been established in Leon Fleisher’s name. Donations to the fund will support piano scholarships and purchasing pianos at Peabody.

 

27 April 2020

 

 

Lynn Harrel - Celebrated Cello Soloist and former Principal Cellist in the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell, and faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Juilliard School and many other renowned Conservatories - In Memoriam

 

Lynn Harrell, who successfully made the leap from orchestral musician to top-flight soloist, has died at the age of 76. He was born in New York into a musical family: his father was the baritone Mack Harrell and his mother, Marjorie McAlister Fulton, a violinist. He studied at Juilliard (with Leonard Rose) and at Curtis (with Orlando Cole).

His parents both died when Harrell was young: his father in 1960 when Lynn was 15, and his mother in 1962 when he was 18. In an interview with Andrew Stewart in Gramophone in May 1994, he talked about his father’s influence: ‘My father was a great singer, but I wasn't aware of that until after he died. But then I would play along with, study and listen to small snippets of his recordings, over and over again, to see the meaning of his art. At times, that experience was often overpowering. I began to realize that it was possible to get a similar variety of attack with the bow as that possible from the human voice. Listening to records of singers became my inspiration fully for five or six years, and I then consciously attempted to extend the palette of sounds I could produce on the cello to rival those of the voice.’

In 1962, he joined George Szell’s Cleveland Orchestra, becoming Principal Cello in 1964, a post he held until 1971. That year he made his solo debut in New York and his solo career was launched.

He both performed and recorded extensively as a soloist (mainly for Decca) but also worked frequently in the trio with Vladimir Ashkenazy and Itzhak Perlman – together they recorded Beethoven’s piano trios (for EMI) and with Ashkenazy, the cello sonatas (for Decca). Among his extensive discography was a recording for DG of Taneyev’s Piano Quintet (with Ilya Gringolts, Vadim Repin, Nobuko Imai and Mikhail Pletnev) which won Gramophone’s Chamber Award in 2006. His catalogue embraces most of the cello concerto repertoire as well as numerous chamber music, and solo, recordings.

Harrell played a Montagnana cello from 1720 and then the 1673 Stradivarius cello owned previously by Jacqueline du Pré. Latterly he played on a modern instrument made by Christopher Dungey.

As his solo career slowed, Harrell took on a number of teaching posts: the Royal Academy of Music in London, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute, the Cleveland Institute of Music, Juilliard, the USC Thornton School of Music in LA and at Rice University.

 

 

17 April 2020

 

 

Paul Shelden - Renowned Clarinetist and wind doubler  - Professor Emeritus at Brooklyn College - In Memoriam

 

Hewlitt, New York

 

                        Paul Shelden was a musician who performed with big stars, but his most important role was as a husband and father who thought nothing of sticking his arm down a restaurant toilet to retrieve his son’s pen, and who always made sure his daughter’s school projects were completed.

                        Shelden, a resident of Hewlett for 28 years and a professor emeritus of music at Brooklyn College, died at home on April 17 of complications of Covid-19. He was 79.

                     “He did it all,” said Seth, who is also a musician and performer. “He was quite well known, and an accomplished person.”

                     Seth recounted the time he thought he couldn’t complete a college challenge that involved sleeping in the great outdoors for a month. Having never slept outside, he found it extremely difficult, so he called his dad and asked for a ride home. “I fully expected him not to do this, but he didn’t miss a beat, and said he’d come right up. I was flabbergasted. I said, I better finish, I can’t make him do that.” So Seth completed the challenge.

                    Paul Sheldon was born on March 8, 1941, in Brooklyn, and took to music as a youngster. He and his twin brother, Aaron, performed on Ted Mack’s television variety show “The Original Amateur Hour” in 1956.

                   Shelden’s musical talent took him to the Stevensville Hotel, a resort in the Catskill Mountains, where he became the bandleader. Pam Jacobs, who sang with the band, met Sheldon in 1963, and they fell in love. They were married for 51 years.

                 “He was generous and giving,” said his wife, who is also ill with Covid-19. She recounted Paul’s retrieval of Seth’s favorite pen from the restaurant toilet when his son was around 7.

                 After earning degrees from Juilliard, Shelden performed and conducted classical, jazz, klezmer and opera at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Radio City Musical Hall, the Tilles Center, the White House and other venues. He also performed in Broadway musical orchestras and in bands for stars who spanned generations, including Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Bob Hope, Billy Joel, Frank Sinatra and Blood, Sweat & Tears. For many years he performed in Guy Lombardo’s annual televised New Year’s Eve concerts.

                Shelden earned a doctorate from the University of Maryland, and also played under the batons of conductors James Levine and Robert Shaw, and debuted works written specifically for him, according to his son. He wrote many published articles on music teaching and performance, and was in demand as a judge for competitions and programs.

               He founded his own company in 2003, Diplomatte Musical Instruments, and oversaw the design and manufacture of woodwind instruments made in China.

              Asked what she would most remember, Shelden’s daughter, Dr. Loren Napoli, a school psychologist, said, “His patience and eagerness, and that he wanted the people around him to be as happy as possible. He would sacrifice his own needs for everybody. If we had to wake up early, he would wake up early. If we had to stay up late, he would stay up late.”

             Despite also battling Parkinson’s disease, Shelden connected with his father’s past as a dedicated participant in Rock Steady Boxing, a therapy program at the New York Institute of Technology. Despite the Parkinson’s and before he contracted Covid-19, he performed with Long Island’s Northwinds Symphonic Band.

            In addition to his wife and children, Shelden is survived by his brother (who still plays the accordion, and worked in television financial services), as well as Napoli’s husband, Rocco, and their two children.

           The family held a graveside service on April 21, led by Rabbi Bruce Ginsburg. Only 10 people attended, but more than 200 others viewed the service on Zoom.

           Seth recalled that the day’s crazy weather included heavy winds, a hailstorm and then a rainbow. “It seemed magical,” he said, “since my father’s signature song was ‘Over the Rainbow.’” 

 

 

30 March 2020

 

 

 

Dennis Zeisler,  Member of the West Point Band and later Acclaimed Professor and Director of Bands at Old Dominion University - In Memoriam

 

Norfolk, Virginia USA

 

                  Dennis Zeisler enlisted in the Army as solo clarinetist of the West Point Band, was professor of music for 39 years at Old Dominion University, founded and conducted the Virginia Wind Symphony, served as 77th president of the American Bandmasters Association, and sat on the board of the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic. Zeisler was a proud University of Michigan alumni.

 

 

Tributes to Dennis Zeisler from Past Colleagues from the West Point Band

 

 

LTC (Ret) David Deitrick - former Commander of the USMA Band

 

            I believe I first met Dennis when I was band commander and he came to a reunion, conducting the band for the concert.  He was a talented musician/conductor, and one of the finest people I know.  I got to know him much better during the last 18 years during ABA conferences.  He was highly respected and loved, always friendly and encouraging to those around him.  His wife Carol is also a remarkable person.
 
Dennis was proud of his service at West Point.  He will be missed very much.
 
David Deitrick

 

 

 

Peter Cokkinias - Clarinet Colleague

 

          Thanks for your message and this sad news about Dennis Zeisler.   I also served with him during those years as well and salute his amazing career and service to the musical arts. He was quite a musician and shared his talents with so many people!

Warm regards and stay safe!
Peter

 

 

 

29 March 2020

 

 

Krzysztof Penderecki - Internationally Renowned Composer, Conductor and Iconic Musical Figure of the last and Present Century - In Memoriam

Author: Culture.pl

             Krzysztof Penderecki is a composer and conductor. He was born on 23 November 1933, in Dębica, died on 29th March 2020. In the history of 20th-century music, his career stands out for his fast rise to the top, matched by none, with the possible exception of Stravinsky.

 

                       

 

 

 

                   

 

 

 

 

 

                    The Berliner Philharmoniker mourn the death of Krzysztof Penderecki, who died on 29 March at the age of 86. Penderecki was one of the most prominent composers of our time and his works have been featured in major opera houses and concert halls. The Berliner Philharmoniker have also performed many of his compositions, both under his own direction and in concerts with Herbert von Karajan and Zubin Mehta.

                   Among the works performed were Penderecki’s Symphonies No. 1 and 2 and his Second Violin Concerto. His Cello Concerto No. 2 was premiered in 1983 by the Berliner Philharmoniker under Penderecki’s direction and with Mstislav Rostropovich as the soloist. A performance of the St. Luke Passion with Antoni Wit as conductor was recorded for the Digital Concert Hall in 2013.

                  Go to the St. Luke Passion in the Digital Concert Hall

 

11 March 2020

 

Charles Wuorinen - Major American Composer and proactive authority in New Music - In Memoriam

 

 

             

 

                             It is with regret that we announce the death of Charles Wuorinen, composer of over 270 works, virtuosic pianist, and conductor. He died on Wednesday, March 11 from complications after sustaining a fall in September 2019.

                           Wuorinen’s music of refinement, power, technical excellence and wide-ranging emotional pallet found a home in operas, ballets, symphonies, and chamber and vocal works of all combinations and instruments. Wuorinen’s last completed work was his Second Percussion Symphony, premiered in Miami in September 2019.
 
                         In recent years James Levine became a staunch advocate for Wuorinen’s music and commissioned five orchestral works including his Fourth Piano Concerto with Peter Serkin for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Michael Tilson Thomas, a conductor whom Wuorinen worked with for much of his career, commissioned Bamboula Beach for the inaugural concert of the New World Symphony, and most recently Sudden Changes for the San Francisco Symphony.  

                      The first composer Christoph von Dohnányi commissioned for the Cleveland Orchestra was Wuorinen, who produced Movers and Shakers. Oliver Knussen, a great interpreter of Wuorinen’s works, recorded A Reliquary for Igor Stravinsky, which enshrined musical fragments entrusted to Wuorinen at the Russian composer’s death by his widow, Vera Stravinsky.
 
                    Wuorinen wrote six works for the New York City Ballet including three scores inspired by scenes from Dante for Peter Martins, and Five: Concerto for Amplified Cello and Orchestra with the dual purpose of it being a cello concerto for his great friend and collaborator Fred Sherry.
 
                  Wuorinen’s works for the stage include operas on Annie Proulx’s Brokeback Mountain and Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Throughout his career Wuorinen displayed his mastery of vocal writing, setting texts from the Vulgate to contemporary writers such as James Fenton, James Tate, and John Ashbery.
 
                Wuorinen had a strong interest in earlier music which is seen in such works as Delight of the Muses, written for the Mozart Bicentennial, Time Regained, which uses materials from Machaut, Dufay, Gibbons, and Mattei de Perugia, and The Magic Art: An Instrumental Masque drawn from the works of Henry Purcell.
 
I              In 1962 he co-founded The Group for Contemporary Music with Harvey Sollberger. The Group was the precursor of a large number of similar ensembles formed throughout America particularly in the early 1970’s, and its luminous performances were widely regarded as models to be emulated.
 
              A prodigy who started composing at age five, Wuorinen was a polymath with interests in fractal geometry, astrophysics, Egyptology and Chinese calligraphy.
 
             He was the recipient of many awards, fellowships, and honors including the Pulitzer Prize (for Time’s Encomium) and a MacArthur Fellowship, and he was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is the author of Simple Composition, used by composition students throughout the world. His longtime publisher is C.F. Peters.
 
           He is survived by his husband of thirty-two years, Howard Stokar.

 

 

4 March 2020

 

 

William O Smith - Renowned Clarinetist and Jazz Performer and Composer of some of the most important  Contemporary Music for the Clarinet - In Memoriam

 

Seattle, Washington USA

 

                  The groundbreaking clarinetist known as William O. “Bill” Smith, a founding member of the Dave Brubeck Octet, Smith also pioneered the use of multiphonics on clarinet in the 1960s and has continued to experiment with extended techniques throughout his life. Born in Sacramento, California, he studied at Juilliard, Mills College, the University of California–Berkeley and the Paris Conservatory, and his longest teaching appointment was at the University of Washington, where he taught composition, clarinet and contemporary music for more than 30 years. He has enjoyed great success over seven decades as a composer and performer. He is still writing and performing music, most recently at a residency this summer at the Bologna Conservatory in Italy.

 

                Bill Smith makes so much music that he's had to divide his workload between two personae.

                As William O. Smith, he's an acclaimed and influential innovator in "new" or "contemporary music." He pioneered the use of many untapped sounds of the clarinet, and incorporated them into his 200 compositions.

 

              In his second musical world, jazz, his renown is just as great, thanks not just to those same clarinet innovations, but moreover to his subtle use of them in soloing and accompaniment.

 

              Dave Brubeck calls Smith "one of the all-time greats." And he doesn't just say that because he and Bill have known each other well for 50 years. They have worked together throughout that long friendship, which began when they were at graduate school together at Mills College, in Oakland, Cal. Smith was an original member of the Brubeck octet that worked the Bay Area, beginning in 1947, and with which Brubeck began one of the most successful careers in West Coast jazz.

Smith performed on and contributed compositions to the group's first recordings in the late 1940s and early 1950s. In the 1960s he again recorded with Brubeck - an album a year until he moved to Seattle in 1966. That pace of recording resumed when the two began working together again regularly in 1982. That was when Smith took over the soloist's spot with the Brubeck Quartet and began to work its many concerts - up to 100 a year. The group's pace has slowed of late, but Smith still performs on its long spring tours of Europe and on West Coast gigs.

 

           When Brubeck asked him to begin touring with his band, Smith agreed with the proviso that touring wouldn't preclude teaching composition, orchestration, and contemporary idioms at the University of Washington, and co-directing its highly praised Contemporary Group.

 

 

26 February 2020

 

 

 

Hans Deinzer - Celebrated German Klarinette Pedagogue and teacher at the Musikhochule in Hannover and mentor of many of the Great German and European players - In Memoriam

 

Hannover, Germany

 

                Born in Rothenbruck [de], Deinzer received his first clarinet lessons at the Städtisches Konservatoriun in Nuremberg between 1949 and 1955.[2] He was until 1962 a student of Rudolf Gall in Munich.[

 

               Deinzer was clarinetist at the Nürnberger Symphoniker and at the Sinfonieorchester des Norddeutschen Rundfunks in Hamburg.[2]

 

              He was one of the first clarinetists to professionally adopt the use of rubber mouthpieces, and also was a champion of historical instruments and playing. He recorded two versions of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto using a reconstructed historical boxwood clarinet and has premiered several important works, including Pierre Boulez's "Domaines" —which was written for him— and Henri Pousseur's Madrigal I.

             He is a two-time winner of the Grand Prix du Disque.

             His students include several prominent clarinetists, such as Sabine Meyer, Reiner Wehle, Wolfgang Meyer, Martin Fröst, Andrew Marriner, Nicholas Cox, Antonio Salguero and Michele Zukovsky.

 

 

18 January 2020

 

 

Robert Crowley - Acclaimed Clarinetist and Teacher - Solo Clarinetist Emeritus in the Montreal Symphony - In Memoriam

 

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

 

                       Robert Crowley's professional world was one of music and performance. He always said it was an immense privilege to be able to work at that about which he was most passionate. He started playing clarinet at age 9 as part of the school band in Deer Park, Long Island. He excelled and was accepted to the Eastman School of Music where he studied with Stanley Hasty. He completed his Master's degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Robert Marcellus. He performed in the United States from 1973 to 1976. In 1976 he won the audition for Associate Principal clarinetist with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and was appointed Principal in 1998. Bob was always known for his persistent quest for the perfect reed and for the perfect mouthpiece. But the result was so worth it! He could play like no one else and produce an angelic sound. He was also a devoted teacher to an entire generation of clarinet students at McGill University. He was proud of each and every one.

                   

                 You can call this is trademark recording- Rhapsody in Blue.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNLera4qKSc&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3SMAYd_d-v4sLDEbPvi2ddYTTlp5TUDY9hcBCaXHjpW_lyKj8DKM449PE

 

 

14 January 2020

 

 

Guy DePlus, Renowned French Clarinetist and Professor at the Paris Superiore Conservatory and a Founding member of the Paris Intercontemparian with Pierre Boulez - In Memoriam

 

Paris, France

 

                     Guy Deplus studied clarinet at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and received Premiers Prix in clarinet and chamber music. He was a professor of clarinet at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, and was retired. He taught many French orchestral clarinetists. He was also one of the clarinetists who collaborated with Buffet Crampon on the creation of the Tosca and Festival clarinets. Together with Pierre Boulez, Deplus cofounded the "Concerts du Domaine Musical". He was a soloist in the Paris Opera. Deplus received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Clarinet Association (for "Outstanding Performance, Teaching, Research, and Service to the Clarinet).  He has been Director of the International Clarinet Congress 81 and 97 held in Paris.  His collaboration with Buffet-Crampon, the renowned Clarinet Maker brought about the development of advanced Clarinet models including the Tosca and other models.  He was 96 years old.

 

 

 

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     Revised: December 20, 2020