Clarinet Course

After a long discographic and scenic experience in the field of jazz, where Thierry Maillard has already been able to explore all the different facets of this music, from solo piano to septet, through the trio of course, and several orchestral experiences with strings ( especially with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra), Thierry Maillard realizes the work of his life, with the creation of this exceptional big band, which synthesizes all its influences and its various musical experiences, in a great melodic, harmonic and rhythmic whirlwind, for the pleasure of all, and pursuing happiness, of course!

Gordon Crosse is a composer of long-standing repute. Over the course of his career he has been commissioned to write works by festivals and orchestras including: BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Cheltenham Festival, the Aldeburgh Festival, the Edinburgh Festival and the BBC Proms.

Decca signed an exclusive contract with the Wiener Oktett (Vienna Octet) in the summer of 1948 as a commercially motivated move: a sweetener to the deal that also poached the Philharmonic Orchestra from EMI. The ensemble had been formed only a year or so previously around the Boskovsky brothers, violinist Willi and clarinetist Alfred. Soon enough, audiences at home as well as in concert were enjoying the sound of a quintessentially Viennese ensemble, it's members drawn from the ranks of the Philharmonic, in Classical-era music that could have been written for them, starting with the Septet by Beethoven and the Octet by Schubert. The sweet, silvery tone of the Octet and the easy give-and-go of it's phrasing established the Octet as the latest in a line of distinguished Viennese chamber ensembles, from the Rosé Quartet of Mahler's era to the Barylli Quartet documented by the Westminster label.

The complete course in instrumentation & orchestration

Clarinetist Alicia Lee releases Conversations With Myself, a collection of works for solo clarinet with and without electronics, chronicling a year of artistic activity in isolation. Works by Pierre Boulez, Dai Fujikura, Isang Yun, Unsuk Chin, and Hideaki Aomori make for a program that highlights music by composers of Asian descent and Boulez' iconic work exploring the dichotomy between live performance and pre-recorded material.

We continue our voyage of discovery with the music of this chamber music of the extraordinary English composer Percy Hilder Miles (1878-1922).

With groups like Sex Mob, Millennial Territory Orchestra and Diaspora Soul, Steven Bernstein is energizing the downtown scene with a passionate and indefatigable creativity. His brilliance continues with Diaspora Suite, the fourth installment in his Diaspora series for Tzadik and perhaps the best! Twelve original compositions exploring the Jewish tradition are brilliantly performed by a nonet of California musicians including Ben Goldberg, Peter Apfelbaum and several key players from his legendary band the Hieroglyphics. Channeling Miles Davis, Gil Evans and the Sephardic traditions of Darkness and Light, this is fabulous new Jewish music by one of the most talented and charismatic figures in the downtown scene.

Over the course of time there have been many overlooked artists in classical music, because of their race and/or gender. It is important to acknowledge that we have not yet heard the whole story due to this sidelining of voices. Composers Joseph Boulogne Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, William Grant Still, Florence B. Price, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, and George Walker, have all contributed beautifully crafted works to the repertoire, but are not widely celebrated. Another contributing factor to this unfortunate reality is access to their manuscripts and recordings of their work which we believe would lead to greater awareness and programming of their incredible music. UNCOVERED, concieved in 2018, is an ongoing performance and muti-volume anthology recorded on the Azica label. Vol. 1, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor with guest collaborators Stewart Goodyear (piano) and Anthony McGill (clarinet), releases on February 5th, 2021. Vol. 2 is devoted to Florence B. Price and future volumes will include Joseph Boulogne Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, William Grant Still, and George Walker.