February 2011 Hot News

Major Jazz Recital with Jazz Clarinetist legend Eddie Daniels, and Roger Kellaway at the Library of Congress

A landmark concert for a standing room only capacity audience at the Cooledge Auditorium at this Library of Congress with live broadcast featured one of the true Jazz Clarinet legends Eddie Daniels with pianist and composer Roger Kellaway of whom both have worked together for several years. Major Clarinetists such as Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Buddy DeFranco, and a few others, and Daniels, in his own style and technical virtuosity, leads the field. The concert demonstrated the incredible flexibility and unlimited technical capability. Eddie Daniels is a Juilliard trained player who is equally adept at the Classical side of playing and this quality stands him out. Many classically trained players who cannot improvise and create handicap themselves. A complete and totally flexible player should be able to do both. This program was fun and informal and literally thrilling in what was happening. Many of the pieces played had an Americana theme. This concert was a major event for all players to come out for. Eddie is a Senior VIP with the World Clarinet Alliance.

University of Central Florida Clarinet Day with Stanley Drucker - Dr Keith Koons, Director

The 21st Annual Clarinet Day here was a very special intensive day with legend artist Stanley Drucker, who was featured in recital, an extensive Master Class with 5 selected students who played well up to form with detailed coaching covering their specific issues. The galleried program galleries above tell the story and are a summary in themselves. There were several exhibition displays from local retailers, Buffet-Crampon, Richard Gilbert and his books and archive recordings from Grenadilla, with the area crammed with interested students and players, several in line to have Bruce Markin of Buffet to make minor repairs and touchups. There was an hour long Clarinet Choir reading under Director Keith Koons covering a long list of pieces to go through.

A highpoint that evening was the recorded/slideshow presentation about Drucker's career with playbacks of several works including Orchestral pieces as Rimsky Korsikov's Cappricio Espagnole, Brahms Symphony # 3, Bartok Contrasts, Corigliano and Copland and Bolcom's Clarinet Concertos, the Brahms Trio, the Bernstein Sonate, and as a finale, the Nielsen Concerto with stories and comments from Dr Drucker with questions. The two hour session was well attended and everyone sensed the legendary from this event.

Credit for this well organized success is due to Dr Keith Koons, who is also President of the International Clarinet Association (ICA). Supporting sponsors including Buffet-Crampon and Vandoren. This is an annual event not to be missed.

On Saturday, February 12, 2011, clarinetist Michael Dean hosted his annual Southeast Missouri Single Reed Day festival at the River Campus of Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau. The festival’s feature clinician was Timothy Phillips, clarinet professor at Troy University in Troy, Alabama. Dr. Phillips worked with several clarinet and saxophone students in two separate master classes. Additionally, Drs. Phillips and Dean collaborated on a woodwind doubling clinic featuring information for saxophonists on clarinet and flute. (The clinic was a joint effort with a concurrent university jazz festival.). In the evening, Phillips and Dean capped off Single Reed Day by playing a big recital. Dean played new clarinet music by James Grant and Andrea Ferrante. Phillips played clarinet works by Kovacs, Bernstein, and Bassi. For more details of the festival and recital go to: http://www.clarinetmike.com/se_singlereedday.html

Southeast Missouri Single Reed Day is a one-day festival at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau that features clarinet and saxophone master classes, performances, clinics and more. Single Reed Day events are open to students, teachers, amateurs, professionals, and all those interested in the clarinet and/or saxophone. Admission is free to all events during the day for Southeast Missouri Single Reed Day. The evening concert is a ticketed event with tickets available at the door.

High school seniors and potential transfer students may audition for a music scholarship during Southeast Missouri Single Reed Day. For more information, please contact Dr. Michael Dean (email: mdean@semo.edu or call: 573/651-2535).

In the period 7-11th February 2011, the Music Academy in Cluj-Napoca brought back into the contemporary music life a competition that will have a major impact.

The landmark of the competition was the year 1984, at the time being called „The inter county festival and competition, of musical creation and performance”. If the composition discipline was present on almost every edition, the performance section was addressed to a wider variety of musicians. Therefore the competition had violin, piano, voice and wind instruments.

Continuing in the same manner, starting with 2011, the „Gheorghe Dima” International Music Competition introduced flute and clarinet to begin with and will continue with the rest of the instruments.

For the musical life of the ’80-’90’s Romania, this national music competition represented a significant event through it’s resonance and dimensions, being probably considered second only to the „George Enescu” Festival.

Our aim is to transform the competition into a world renowned event and it started in 2011, the presence in the jury of some of the most important instrumentalists of our time stands as a confirmation statement.The competition took place at the "Gheorghe Dima" Music Academy situated in the heart of Transylvania, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

CLARINET COMPETITION RESULTS:

1st prize - wasn't awarded

2nd prize - First position- Umehara Kie (Japan/Switzerland)
- "RC Prestige" Bb clarinet made and offered by Buffet Crampon - France
- concert performance with the "Transilvania" State Philharmonic
Orchestra from Cluj-Napoca in 2011-2012 season
- crystal mouthpiece made by Pomarico, Italy
- 100 Euro worth of Vandoren products

Second position- Philipp Bruno (Croatia)
- "Virtuoso" Bb clarinet made and offered by Patricola, Italy
- crystal mouthpiece made by Pomarico, Italy
- 100 Euro worth of Vandoren products

3rd prize First position- Eletskiy Sergey (Russia/Germany)
- a clarinet double case offered by Henri Selmer Paris, France

Second position- Nemyrovs'kyy Yury (Ukraine)
- crystal mouthpiece made by Pomarico, Italy
- 100 Euro worth of Vandoren products

Special Prize of the jury - 100 EUR worth of Vandoren products -
Tomoyo Kobayashi (Japan/France)
Ex Aequo

Special Prize of the jury - 1 crystal mouthpiece made by Pomarico,
Italy - Juan Jose Pardo (Spain)

Special Prize of the jury - 1 crystal mouthpiece made by Pomarico,
Italy - Georgy Mansurov (Russia)

Special Prize "Junior" for the best young clarinet player in the
competiton, offered by the Pro Talents Society Cluj - 150 EUR -
Dorinel Puia (Romania)

Special Prize for best performance of the solo piece "Invocazioni" by
Viorel Munteanu, offered by "George Enescu" University of Arts in
Iasi- 800 RON(the equivalent of 190 EUR)-Daniel Paicu (Romania)

Special Prize for best performance of the solo piece "Martie" by
Marţian Negrea offered by the Marţian Negrea Foundation - 100 EUR -
Maria du Toit (South Africa)

Special Prize offered by the Union of Composers and Musicologists in
Romania for the best performance of a Romanian piece - 75 EUR -
Philipp Bruno (Croatia)

Special Prize for best performance of a Mozart's Concerto offered by
the Romanian Mozart Society - a concert during the 21st edition of the
Mozart Festival in Cluj-Napoca - Umehara Kye (Japan/Switzerland)

Special Prize of the public - Eletskiy Sergey (Russia/Germany)

Diane Cohen, 1st Violin in Reger Quintet with Franklin Cohen, the Cleveland Institute Clarinet Studio, and 2nd Clarinetist Robert Woolfrey, Mike Getzin, WKA Founder and CEO, and Solo Clarinetist Franklin Cohen after rehearsal of the Cleveland Orchestra at Severence Hall

Franklin Cohen, one of the world class performance icons in the United States and Solo Clarinetist and soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra since 1976, and successor to the legend clarinetist Robert Marcellus, performed the above program at the Cleveland Institute of Music to an iconic level. Mr Cohen has been soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra over 200 times, and 3 this past year including the Debussy Rhapsody at Blossom Music Festival, the Golijov Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind (arranged for String Orchestra), and the Nielsen Concerto. As noted above he has been principal clarinet for 35 years, a notable career like that of his teacher at Juilliard Stanley Drucker, now retired after 61 years at the New York Philharmonic. The audience was full and enthusiastic and potentially hypnotized by the performance of these two romantic works for Clarinet and String Quartet.

For student clarinetists, the performance here would inspire one to seek to study and develop under Mr Cohen. Like many of the top players and artists who have studied in previous generations with giants such as Stanley Drucker and Leon Russianoff, the Bellison/Bonade approaches in schooling is evident and worth seeking. For Orchestral and soloist preparation and development no better example can be found here. Mr Cohen is the first American to win the Munich International Competition. He is a Senior Artist VIP with the World Clarinet Alliance.

           February 3 - 4 starts the 1. SABRe Bass Clarinet Symposium at the Zurich University of the Arts. 40 Innovative Musicians from all over the world will meet and discuss the further development of the acoustic instruments towards the digital world and the immense possibilities of the Computer.

              With the Sensor Augmented Bass Clarinet Research Project I would like to create together with my team of the Institut for Computer Music and Sound Technology and a lot of different partners a Standard of an Instrument that is available easily and people from the whole world can make different experiences with it.

             The Symposium will be documented and I can send you soon a report with results of this thinktank. If you like to get regularly information about this research project, just let me know. Attached I send you the Programm book and in the above galleries you can read a introduction text.

Southeast Missouri State University Single Reed Day - Dr Michael Dean, Director