Boundary-Pushing Bass Clarinetist Joins Backun Like Backun, Michael Lowenstern is an iconoclast with a unique voice in the music world. He continues to redefine the bass clarinet, repositioning it from a harmony instrument to one that takes centre stage.  His musical, professional, and personal achievements are unparalleled. Groundbreaking bass clarinetist, NYC advertising legend, retail entrepreneur — even a licensed pilot. It seems there isn’t much he hasn’t done. During the development of our new Backun Bass Clarinet lineup, Michael lent us his ears and eyes, hopping on a plane to ..read more

Leading Clarinetist Will Design a Signature Line of Instruments NEW YORK – GRAMMY®-nominated clarinetist Anthony McGill has signed an engagement agreement with Backun Musical Services, the world-famous clarinet manufacturer based in British Columbia, Canada. The news was announced today by Joel Jaffe, Vice President of Backun. As part of the agreement, McGill — a leading soloist and the first Black principal player of the New York Philharmonic — will continue to perform exclusively on his Backun Lumière Clarinets. As part of the engagement, McGill will also work closely with Morrie Backun to d ..read more

As with any creative pursuit, even professional ones, there comes a point in any day when the art is put away and the rest of life must be attended to. What happens, though, when your frequent artistic collaborator is also your spouse? Where does the music end and the rest of life begin? Is there such a thing as work-life balance? When I first reached Chad Burrow by phone in his office at the University of Michigan, he expressed considerable doubt that we’d have much to talk about. He explained that he understood I’d be writing about collaborating with one’s spouse, “but I'm not sure if there ..read more

In my opinion, the most important aspect of musical artistry is sound. Sound quality is what people initially evaluate when they hear someone play. If a musical sound is unpleasant to the ear, it doesn’t matter if a beautiful phrase is crafted or blazing technique is demonstrated — few will listen for long. The final arbiter in all musical matters is the ear. Through the exercises outlined below, we’ll focus on three fundamental concepts essential in creating a beautiful sound: inhalation (full lung capacity), exhalation (with support), configuration of the oral cavity, and embouchure. It’s as ..read more

Corrado Giuffredi is one of the most prominent clarinetists on the global scene at the moment and has played with important orchestras since he was young. His videos on YouTube and Facebook reach thousands of fans within hours of being posted. A good number of students crowd his masterclasses and desire to study with him regularly. Principal Clarinet of the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, he is one of the most important figures of the new Italian clarinet school. We recently discussed his past experiences, his exclusive instrument, and his advice to the next generation of clarinetists. Ang ..read more

Am I going to get claustrophobic? This was the question on Ellen Breakfield-Glick’s mind as she descended into the darkness of Mammoth Cave, her clarinet safely stowed in its case on her back, her arms full as she and her fellow musicians carried in all of their equipment, including chairs and music stands. Mammoth Cave was just the first stop of a two-month tour of national parks across the U.S. last summer. A septet, Music in the American Wild was the brainchild of flutist and director Emlyn Johnson, a school friend of Breakfield-Glick. Johnson had contacted her a full two years earlier to s ..read more

On Technology in Art and Teaching In conversation with Kim Werker There’s an occasional clicking noise coming through as I speak with Jose Franch-Ballester via Skype. I’m at my dining room table in Vancouver, Canada; he’s in his studio in Valencia, Spain. He’s telling me about the avant-garde multimedia concerto he’ll be premiering in January, 2018. Jose Franch-Ballester: There is this composer, Saül Gómez Soler; he’s from Valencia. About a year ago he started composing me a piece called “Apocryphos.” Apocryphos means tenebre, dark, mysterious, simulated. We have this idea of starting experime ..read more

I met Wes in 1977 when he joined the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (ISO), but we didn’t start dating until he asked me out for my Halloween birthday a year later. I fell in love with that tall, handsome gentleman, and we were engaged by American Thanksgiving. We didn’t want to wait till summer to get married, so we planned our wedding — to be held at my parents’ suburban Chicago home — and honeymoon, to coincide with the ISO’s week-long vacation in February 1979. What we didn’t plan on was that two weeks prior to our wedding, Chicago would experience its second largest snowstorm in history ..read more

No relationship is as important to an orchestral principal bassoonist as the one we share with the single-reed specialist who sits to our right. From Beethoven to Brahms, Schubert to Schoenberg, the search for that perfect blend of bassoon and clarinet is an endless quest. Wes Foster and I sat side by side for twenty years. Day after day, season after season, we paid close attention to each other, to every shared phrase, to every unison, the vagaries of cane, the changes of weather. He even asked me for input on ligatures. We cultivated a single- minded approach to intonation, colour, and ..read more

When David Shifrin was a student, he told his teachers that he wanted to do many different kinds of work when he became a professional musician. They weren’t having it. “I enjoyed playing chamber music and doing solo work, and I enjoyed playing in the orchestra at school at Interlochen and Curtis. I wanted a career like that. I went to competitions and had some solo opportunities. I talked to my teachers about it, and pretty much everyone said that if you want to have a career playing the clarinet, the only path really is to practice for orchestra auditions. There’s a lot of truth in that, to ..read more