Richard Stoltzman
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Richard Stoltzman
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| Born Richard Leslie Stoltzman, July 12, 1942 in Omaha, NE; son of Leslie Harvey Stoltzman (worked for the Western Pacific Railroad) and Dorothy Marilyn Spohn; married Lucy Jean Chapman (violinist), June 6, 1976; children: Peter, John, Margaret, Anne. Education: Ohio State University: B.A. mathematics, music; Teachers College of Columbia University: M.A. music, PhD Yale University. Began studying the clarinet at the age of eight; accepted at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont, 1967; stayed at the festival for ten years; joined the California Institute of Arts, 1970; began playing informally with violinist Ida Kavafian, cellist Bill Sherry, and pianist/composer Bill Douglas, 1973 at the New School for Social Research in New York City; quartet named Tashi; first recording and performance as a grou;The Messaien Quartet for the End of Time, RCA,. 1973; soloist debut, New York, 1974; recording debut ΛGift of Music for Clarinet, 1974; became a fixture at the Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival beginning in the late 1970s; performed often with the New York Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony, and the orchestras of Atlanta and Louisville; overseas bookings in Britain, Italy, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, and Austria; debuted at La Scala in Milan, Italy, 1981; first person to perform a solo clarinet recital at Carnegie Hall in 1982; performed with jazz greats such as Gary Burton, Chick Corea, Eddie Gomez, Keigh Jarrett, George Shearing, Wayne Shorter, and Mel Torme. Awards: Martha Baird Rockefeller Award in 1973, Avery Fisher Recital Award in 1977, Avery Fisher Prize in 1986, Grammy Awards in 198 and 1996. Addresses: Home—6 Lincolnshire Way, Winchester, MA 01890-3048; Office— 201 W. 54th Street, Apt. 4C, NY, NY 10019-5521; Record company-BMG/ RCA Victor, 1133 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036; (212) 930-4000. |
Clarinet
Clarinetist and two-time Grammy Award winner Rich card Stoltzman defied categorization and dazzled critics and audiences with his masterful performances in all genres of music. He worked as a soloist with more than a hundred orchestras, as a recitalist and chamber music performer, as an innovative jazz artist, and as an exclusive RCA recording artist. Stoltzman earned an international reputation as a clarinetist who opened up unforeseen possibilities for the instrument, expanding the musical envelope for all musicians in the process. In 1986, he was the first wind player to be awarded the Avery Fisher Prize, and he delivered the first clarinet recital in the history of both the Hollywood Bowl and Carnegie Hall. He has performed with jazz masters such as Gary Burton, Chick Corea, Eddie Gomez, Keith Jarrett, George Shearing, Wayne Shorter, and Mel Torme. His discography numbers nearly 40 releases, and he was a founding member of the noted ensemble TASHI, which made its debut in 1973. Stoltzman is noted for his double lip embouchure, wide vibrato, and ability to mimic the sound of a human voice on his clarinet. He combines traditional and contemporary classical and jazz material with his own unorthodox style, and the result is a constant forging of new musical territory.
Richard Leslie Stoltzman was born on July 12, 1942 in Omaha, Nebraska, to Leslie Harvey Stoltzman and Dorothy Marilyn Spohn. Stoltzman’s father worked forthe Western Pacific Railroad and soon moved his family to San Francisco, California after Richard was born. Stoltz-man’s first exposure to music came through his father, an avid fan of big band music. Stoltzman’s father played the big band music of the 1940s at home on the radio and performed in a dance band during his spare time. Stoltzman began studying the clarinet at the age of eight with a teacher at a local school, and he began playing with his father in the Stewart Memorial United Presbyterian Sunday School Orchestra and at community functions within a few years. When Stoltzman was in junior high school, he began developing the jazz techniques of improvisation and he enjoyed jamming with his father at home. Benny Goodman was his earliest musical mentor, and remained a strong influence throughout his career.
Stoltzman told Allan Kozinn of the New York Times, "(When) I was seven years old … I found these wonderful cylindrical objects in a nice leather case. I enjoyed playing with them … and I vaguely remember dangling them from the second-story window of our house. That caused quite a stir, because they turned out to be my father’s clarinets. But instead of punishing me, he decided that I had an interest in the instrument and rented an indestructible metal clarinetfor me to start on." His family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, and Stoltzman continued studying the clarinet in high school but was
rejected when he applied for scholarships at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and the Jullliard School in New York City. He went to Ohio State University in 1960 and majored in mathematics and music. He also played Sousa marches in the school’s concert band and Dixieland jazz at a local tavern.
Discovered Classical Music in College
Stoltzman was introduced to classical music at Ohio State University, and told an interviewer for Symphony Magazine, "Someone gave me a ticket to a concert by the Julliard Quartet. They played the Lyric Suite of Alban Berg, and I was so knocked out. I didn’t know there was music like that … played with such intensity and precision and emotion. That’s when I realized that it wasn’t enough to play jazz or just enjoy music. You had to give blood." Dentistry had been a possible career choice for Stoltzman, but a series of lessons with Cleveland Orchestra clarinetist Robert Marcellus prompted him to choose graduate work in music instead. He entered Yale in 1964 with a graduate scholarship in music and studied with Keith Wilson. He told Robert Stock of the New York Times that his formal introduction to chamber music was hearing the Brahms clarinet quintet, and by the time he graduated in 1967, his passion for jazz had been replaced by classical music.
In an interview with Annalyn Swan of Time magazine, Stoltzman said, "Not only did I come to feel that music was essential to life, but I was surrounded by people who tried to play like a voice singing, something neglected by clarinetists." He setoutto broaden the rangeof timbre and tonal color available to the clarinet, and to draw them closer to the sonorities of stringed instruments. He auditioned twice for the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont while at Yale, and was turned down both times. Then, he began work on his doctorate at Teachers College of Columbia University in 1967 and studied with Kalman Opperman, who helped him gain insight into some of his shortcomings as a clarinetist. Stoltzman told Swan, "One of the firstthings he [Opperman] told me was that I moved my fingers like a country bumpkin—and I already had a master’s degree from Yale." Opperman changed a lot of things in the way Stoltzman played, and with renewed confidence, Stoltzman auditioned again for the Marlboro Music Festival and was accepted. He stayed at the festival for ten years, where he was given the freedom to explore music in every dimension.
Forged a Difficult Career Path
The Marlboro experience granted an opportunity for Stoltzman to study with world-class figures such as Harold Wright, Rudolf Serkin, Marcel Moyse, and Pablo Casals. Stoltzman told Symphony magazine that when Casals beckoned him over to his chair one night after a performance and said, "You are an artist," it was a pivotal momentfor him—he knew he had something special and that he also had a responsibility to develop further. Stoltzman joined the newly-established California Institute of Arts in 1970, and remained there for six years. He tried auditioning for orchestras, but his fiercely distinctive playing, musical risk-taking, and propensity to experiment were stumbling blocks, and he was turned down after each audition. He decided to forge a career as a solo clarinet recitalist, but had to overcome the limitations of the instrument itself: The clarinet is generally considered too reedy and nasal to be played solo for a great length of time. He persevered and did overcome its limitations. Stoltzman began playing informally with violinist Ida Kavafian, cellist Bill Sherry, and pianist and composer Bill Douglas in 1973 at the New School for Social Research in New York City. The four players took the name Tashi, which is Tibetan for "good fortune." Tashi was formed for one concert, but they were so well received that they continued performing and recording as a group.
The Messaien Quartet for the end of Time became Tashi’s first recording on the RCA label in 1973, and they followed the release with more traditional chamber music works by Beethoven, Stravinsky.and Mozart. Among the composers who have written material specifically for Tashi are Toru Takemitsu, Bill Douglas, Peter Lieberson, William Thomas McKinley, and Charles Wuorinen. Stoltzman made his debut as a solo recitalist in New York in 1974, and he made his recording debut the same year with the release of A Gift of Music for Clarinet for the Orion label. Whether playing solo or with an orchestra, Stoltzman does not add new notes to existing compositions, but instead reshapes the dynamics of the score.
Stoltzman won the Martha Baird Rockefeller Award in 1973. Shortly after, he met his future wife, violinist Lucy Jean Chapman. Chapman was one of numerous musicians attracted to Tashi, entered the group, and married Stoltzman in 1976. The couple formed part of the quartet’s floating membership whenever their separate careers permitted it. Stoltzman became a fixture at the Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival beginning in the late 1970s, and he often performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony, and the orchestras of Atlanta and Louisville. His overseas bookings took him to Britain, Italy, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, and Austria. Stoltzman won the Avery Fisher Recital Award in 1977 and debuted at La Scala in Milan, Italy, in 1981. He was the first person to perform a solo clarinet recital at Carnegie Hall in 1982, and won the Avery Fisher Prize in 1986; he was the first wind player to win the honor. He also garnered Grammy Awards in 1982 for Brahms: The Sonatas for Clarinet, Opus 120, with Richard Goode an another in 1996. Throughout his career, Stoltzman successfully circumvented the constrictions of the traditional clarinet repertoire and broke new musical ground.
Selected discography
Solo releases
Begin Sweet World, BMG/RCA Victor, 1986.
Mozart: Clarinet Concerto, BMG/RCA, 1989.
Richard Stoltzman: Romance—Debussy, Poulenc, Saint-Saens, BMG/RCA, 1990.
Brasil, BMG/RCA, 1991.
Finzi: 5 Bagatelles—Clarinet Concert, BMG/RCA, 1991.
Richard Stoltzman: The Essential Clarinet, 1992.
Copland: Clarinet Concerto—Bernstein, Gershwin, Stoltzman, BMG/RCA, 1993.
Richard Stoltzman: Dreams, BMG/RCA, 1994.
Basic 100, Vol.55: Mozart Clarinet Concert, BMG/RCA, 1994.
Visions, BMG/RCA, 1995.
Spirits, BMG/RCA, 1996.
Foss, Englund, McKinley: Clarinet Concertos, BMG/RCA, 1996.
Open Sky, BMG/RCA, 1998.
Collaborative releases
Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time/Serkin, Stoltzman, BMG/RCA, 1988.
Innvervoices: Stoltzman and Judy Collins, BMG/RCA Victor, 1989.
Marlboro Festival: 40th Anniversary/Mozart Serenade, Sony, 1990.
The Essential Clarinet: Mozart, Stoltzman, Tokyo String Quartet, BMG/RCA, 1991.
Marlboro Festival: 40th Anniversary/Beethoven, Sony, 1991.
Dinner Classics: Just Desserts, Sony, 1992.
Mozart in Hollywood, BMG/RCA, 1992.
Classical Music for People Who Hate Classical Music, BMG/RCA, 1994.
Takemitsu: Cantos/Richard Stoltzman, BMG/RCA, 1994.
Ax, Stoltzman, Ma: Brahms, Beethoven, Mozart—Trios, Sony, 1995.
Brahms Weber: Clarinet Quintets—Stoltzman, Tokyo Quartet, BMG/RCA, 1995.
Debussy, Ravel: Impressions/Toyko String Quartet, BMG/RCA, 1995.
Donald Erb: Concertos/Stoltzman, Fried, Ordman, Comet, Koss Classics, 1995.
Out Classics, BMG/RCA, 1995.
Amber Waves: American Clarinet Music/Stoltzman, Vollecio, BMG/RCA, 1996.
Classical Ecstasy: Classics for a New Age, BMG/RCA, 1996.
O Holy Night: Christmas Favorites, BMG/RCA, 1997.
Adagio: Greatest Hits, BMG/RCA, 1997.
Alchemy: McKinley, Fenner, Carbon, Stoltzman, Master Musicians Collective, 1997.
Barber’s Adagio, BMG/RCA, 1997.
Carol of the Drum: A New Age Christmas, BMG/RCA, 1997.
Classics Go Jazz!, BMG/RCA. 1997.
Autumn Classics, BMG/RCA, 1998.
Spring Classics, BMG/RCA, 1998.
Summer Classics, BMG/RCA, 1998.
Sources
New York Times, July 31, 1983; November 13, 1983.
Symphony Magazine, February/March 1982.
Time, August 14, 1978.
Online
http://www.musicblvd.com
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Richard Stoltzman
- Genres: Classical
Biography
Clarinetist Richard Stoltzman straddles the worlds of jazz and classical music, his solos demonstrating an accomplished virtuosity regardless of the performance context. Stoltzman is equally at home fronting a full symphony orchestra or a small chamber music ensemble, playing swinging traditional jazz or his own soothing, new-age-tinged brand of chamber jazz. Over the course of his long career, Stoltzman has primarily endeavored to break down boundaries between audiences, bringing jazz to classical fans and vice versa.Richard Stoltzman was born in Omaha, NE, in 1942 to a father who played the saxophone. He grew up in San Francisco and Cincinnati, and pursued degrees in music and math at Ohio State; he earned his music master's at Yale and studied for his doctorate at Columbia. Stoltzman began to make his name as a professional through Vermont's chamber-music-oriented Marlboro Music Festival, where he debuted in 1967 (the first of ten straight appearances) and began making the contacts that would lead him to co-found the chamber ensemble TASHI in 1973.
In the years that followed, Stoltzman achieved a number of firsts: he performed the first clarinet recitals ever held at the Hollywood Bowl and Carnegie Hall; he was the first performer to feature jazz in a program at Wagner's legendary Bayreuth Opera House; and he became the first wind player to win the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize in 1986. He appeared as a soloist with a number of major symphonies, and also performed at international jazz festivals, as well as with jazz and pop stars Mel Tormé, George Shearing, Judy Collins, Woody Herman, Wayne Shorter, Keith Jarrett, and the Canadian Brass, among others. In the early '90s, Stoltzman began commissioning and premiering new works for clarinet, and was also featured in the BBC's acclaimed 1993 series Concerto!, performing Aaron Copland's "Clarinet Concerto" with the London Symphony Orchestra. Through most of the '90s, Stoltzman recorded for RCA Victor, blending jazz, classical, and new age sounds, and frequently working with pianist/arranger Bill Douglas; Begin Sweet World was his artistic breakthrough and most popular recording. ~ Steve Huey, Rovi
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Richard Stoltzman
| Richard Stoltzman | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 12, 1942 Omaha, Nebraska |
| Genres | Classical Jazz |
| Instruments | Clarinet |
| Labels | RCA Victor[1] |
Richard Stoltzman (born July 12, 1942) is an American clarinetist. Born Richard Leslie Stoltzman 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. His notable students include Bharat Chandra and Michael Norsworthy.
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.
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Early years and education
Stoltzman's father worked for the Western Pacific Railroad and moved his family to San Francisco, California, soon after Richard was born. Stoltzman's first exposure to music came through his father, an avid fan of big band music. Stoltzman's father played the big band music of the 1940s at home on the radio and performed in a dance band during his spare time. Stoltzman began studying the clarinet at the age of eight with a teacher at a local school, and he began playing with his father in the Stewart Memorial United Presbyterian Sunday School Orchestra and at community functions within a few years. When Stoltzman was in junior high school, he began developing the jazz techniques of improvisation and enjoyed jamming with his father at home. Benny Goodman was his earliest musical mentor, and remained a strong influence throughout his career. Stoltzman told Allan Kozinn of the New York Times, "(When) I was seven years old ... I found these wonderful cylindrical objects in a nice leather case. I enjoyed playing with them ... and I vaguely remember dangling them from the second-story window of our house. That caused quite a stir, because they turned out to be my father's clarinets. But instead of punishing me, he decided that I had an interest in the instrument and rented an indestructible metal clarinet for me to start on."
Stoltzman earned a Bachelor's Degree from Ohio State University with a double major in music and mathematics. He then studied with Professor Keith Wilson at the Yale School of Music, where he received the Master of Music degree. He worked toward a doctoral degree at Columbia University. He has been a longtime student of master clarinet pedagogue Kalmen Opperman of New York. Together, they founded the Clarinet Summit, a semi-regular international gathering of clarinetists which has taken place since the 1990s. He has also recorded with the Kalmen Opperman Clarinet Choir.
His ex-wife, Lucy Stoltzman, is a violinist, a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Arnold Steinhardt of the Guarneri Quartet. They have two children, a son Peter and a daughter Meggie.[2]
Performance & Recording
Stoltzman has appeared as a soloist with numerous major symphonies, at international jazz festivals, and with stars such as Mel Tormé, George Shearing, Judy Collins, Woody Herman, Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Claude Bolling and others. He was a founding member of the chamber music group TASHI in 1973. In 1993, he was featured in the BBC series "Concerto!" He was the Guest artist with The Children's Orchestra Society at Alice Tully Hall of Lincoln Center in 2004. He has also given important recitals at Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bowl.
His discography includes nearly 40 releases, several of them with TASHI. Stoltzman is noted for his double lip embouchure, wide vibrato, and ability to mimic the sound of a human voice on the clarinet. He combines traditional and contemporary classical and jazz material with his own unorthodox style.
In August 1993, Stoltzman was featured in "Concerto!", a six-part television series featuring host Dudley Moore, conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and the London Symphony Orchestra. "Concerto!", created by the producers of the widely-acclaimed "Orchestra" series featuring Moore and Sir Georg Solti, was aired on The Learning Channel and on England's Channel Four, and continues to be broadcast worldwide. The program featuring Stoltzman has been praised by critics and audiences alike and was the recipient of an Emmy Award in the International Performing Arts category.
Stoltzman has played with many widely recognized musicians, including Yo-Yo Ma, Richard Goode and Emanuel Ax. He has made an effort to play new music for the clarinet, and has had several works composed for him. Composers include: Toru Takemitsu ("Waves" and a concerto for clarinet and orchestra), Steve Reich ("New York Counterpoint"), Lukas Foss, Roberto Carnevale, and Einar Englund (clarinet concertos).
Stoltzman is known for his longtime collaboration with composer William Thomas McKinley, and his work has been featured frequently in recent years on Navona Records and MMC Recordings, labels owned by PARMA Recordings and producer Bob Lord.
A review in the New York Times said: "His mastery of the clarinet and his impeccable musicianship are no secret by now, but one who has not heard him play for a time can easily forget how rich and fluid the instrument can sound from top to bottom of its range. If Mr. Stoltzman is not one of a kind, who might the others be?"
Awards and recognitions
Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance:
- Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma & Richard Stoltzman for Brahms/Beethoven/Mozart: Clarinet Trios (1996)
- Richard Goode & Richard Stoltzman for Brahms: The Sonatas for Clarinet & Piano, Op. 120 (1983)
Other Awards:
- On 1 September 2005, Stoltzman was presented with the Yale School of Music's Sanford Medal.[3]
- In 1986 he was the first wind player to be awarded the Avery Fisher Prize
See also
References
External links
- Hear Richard Stoltzman in concert from WGBH Boston
- Richard Stoltzman interview by Bruce Duffie, 1994
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Mentioned in
O Holy Night: Christmas Favorites
(1993 Album by Various Artists)
Carol of the Drum: A New Age Christmas
(1993 Album by Various Artists)
Open Sky
(1998 Album by Richard Stoltzman)
Open Sky
(Classical Album)
Hark!
(1992 Album by Richard Stoltzman)
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