Idyllwild Arts Academy Presents

David Shifrin, Clarinet in Concert with the Idyllwild Arts Academy Orchestra

(April 8, 2004 - Idyllwild, CA) David Shifrin’s playing is “a revelation in just how beautifully the clarinet can be played” said the San Francisco Chronicle. This extraordinary musician will perform with the Idyllwild Arts Academy Orchestra (IAAO) in the Idyllwild Arts Foundation Theatre on the campus of Idyllwild Arts on Saturday, May 22 at 7:30 pm. Mr. Shifrin will perform the Clarinet Concerto written specifically in 2002 for him by composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. The concert also features new music by composers Bruce Adolphe, Randall Woolf and Lalo Schifrin.

David Shifrin is one of only two wind players to have been awarded the Avery Fisher Prize since the award’s inception in 1974. In addition to the Avery Fisher Prize, he is also the recipient of a Solo Recitalists Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and the 1998 Distinguished Alumnae Award from the Music Academy of the West. At the outset of his career, Mr. Shifrin won the top prize at both the Munich and Geneva International Competitions.

Mr. Shifrin continues to broaden the repertoire for clarinet and orchestra by championing the works of 20th and 21st century American composers including, among others, John Adams, Joan Tower, Stephen Albert, Bruce Adolphe, Ezra Laderman, Lalo Schifrin, David Schiff, John Corigliano and Bright Sheng.

In 1992, after an extensive nationwide search, Mr. Shifrin was appointed Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMSLC). Currently on staff as a professor of music at Yale University, he has also served on the faculties of The Juilliard School, the University of Southern California, the University of Michigan, the Cleveland Institute of Music and the University of Hawaii.

Under the baton of Music Director Ransom Wilson, the Idyllwild Arts Academy Orchestra will perform additional pieces by Bruce Adolphe’s Tyrannosaurus Sue: A Cretaceous Concerto, Randall Woolf’s My Insect Bride for Clavinet and Chamber and a another piece, Capriccio for Clarinet and String Orchestra, written expressly for David Shifrin by his cousin, the composer and conductor Lalo Schifrin.

The IAAO is composed of gifted young musicians from across the United States and from countries around the world. Students from the orchestra go on to attend - many on full-scholarship - The Juilliard School, Curtis Institute of Music, Eastman School of Music and other major music programs.

Maestro Ransom Wilson has served as the Idyllwild Arts Academy Orchestra’s Music Director for the past six years. A renowned conductor and flutist, he has worked with many of the world's leading orchestras including the Israel Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. He studied conducting with Roger Nierenberg, James Dixon, Otto Werner Mueller, and the late Leonard Bernstein.

Conductor-in-Residence Denis Segond graduated from the Conservatoire de Nice, the Conservatoire National de Musique de Paris, the Manhattan School of Music, and Yale University. Mr. Segond is currently in his fifth year as Resident Conductor of the Idyllwild Arts Academy Orchestra. In addition to this appointment in California, Mr. Segond also serves as Music Director of The French Opera Comique of Denmark in Copenhagen.

The concert takes place in Idyllwild Arts Foundation Theatre on the campus of Idyllwild Arts. The event is free and open to the public. All seating is open and the facility is handicapped accessible. For additional information or driving directions please logon to our website www.idyllwildarts.org or call (951) 659 2171, ext. 2339.

An additional performance on Friday, May 21 at 8:00 pm will be in the Herbert Zipper Concert Hall at the Colburn School of the Performing Arts in downtown Los Angeles.

The Idyllwild Arts Academy is one of only three boarding high schools for the performing arts in the United States. Aspiring artists and musicians from throughout the world attend the academy to study visual arts, dance, theatre, creative writing, motion pictures and music. The IAAO is widely regarded as one of the best youth ensembles in existence. IAAO students frequently win major competitions and are sought by the most prestigious colleges, universities and conservatories in the nation. They regularly appear on such national broadcast venues as Public Radio International’s “From the Top” and the Music Center Spotlight Awards. Renowned musicians who have recently performed with the IAAO include violinist Hilary Hahn, violist Paul Neubauer, flutist Emily Beynon and percussionist Robert van Sice. Notable conductors who have worked with the orchestra include Leonard Slatkin and Jorge Mester.