Thirty-one clarinetists from as far away as the Dominican Republic, Canada, Montana, Texas, Virginia and Georgia met on the campus of Michigan State University for Clarinetopia 2012 between June 13 and 17.  They shared four concentrated days of master classes, faculty and student recitals, and faculty presentations, which included reed making and adjusting, yoga and breathing, audition preparation, intonation, efficient practicing, and contemporary techniques.  On the faculty were two New Yorkers, Charles Neidich and Alan R. Kay; two representatives from MSU, Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr and Caroline Hartig; and two Houstonians, Michael Webster and Leone Buyse, who likes to refer to herself as “the token flutist.”

            The festivities were kicked off by a Verdehr Trio recital (Elsa with Walter Verdehr, violin, and Silvia Roederer, piano) celebrating the beginning of their 40^th anniversary year.  Their program was an extraordinarily varied sampler chosen from among over 200 works written for the trio.  The composers represented were James Niblock, Ricardo Lorenz, Peter Sculthorpe, Gernot Wolfgang, Gunther Schuller, Stephen Chatman, and Libby Larsen.

                 The second faculty concert featured Caroline Hartig, Alan Kay, Michael Webster, and Leone Buyse in music by the gifted young Cuban composer, José Gavilando Peón, Elizabeth Brown, Shulamit Ran, Carlo della Giacoma, Edison Denisov, and Antonin Dvorak. 

              Charles Neidich’s printed program had music by Berg, Brahms, Prokofiev, and Sarasate, and an unscheduled bonus – Moonflowers Baby by Meyer Kupferman.  Always seeking new horizons, Charlie played the Brahms on an Ottensteiner replica of Richard Mühlfeld’s clarinet and probed the stratosphere with his own versions of flute and violin music in their original registers.  Collaborative piano responsibilities were divided equally between Jun Okada and Shu-han Lu, who did a superb job and also accompanied all of the student master classes and recitals.

Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr Master Class

Caroline Hartig Master Class

Alan R Kay Master Class

Michael Webster Master Class and Orchestra Audition Seminar

Charles Neidich Master Class