Clarinet Commission Collective

The Clarinet Commission Collective is a new project founded by clarinetist Jeremy Eig that aims to "help individual clarinetists pool their resources to commission works from major composers." With an artistic advisory board including Larry Combs, Richard Hawkins, Alan R. Kay, Anthony McGill, and David Shifrin, this project is bound to result in high-quality new works for clarinet. The first commission, from composer Paul Schoenfield, is already in the works.

There are many ways to participate in this project: a $50 donation will get your name printed in the score, and $250 earns you the right to present your local premiere of the piece. The Clarinet Commission Collective (or Clarinet Co Co) encourages group donations, so this could be a great project for a university clarinet studio. Kudos to Jeremy Eig for this great idea, and we look forward to seeing the results of this project!

Kari Kriikku

Check out this blog posting by Alex Ross (a music critic for The New Yorker) which features clarinetist Kari Kriikku's playing on two sample tracks filled with a cacophony of city-like noises from the 1985 composition Kraft by Magnus Lindberg. Kriikku is a native of Finland and has studied with Alan Hacker, Leon Russianoff, and Charles Neidich. A supporter of contemporary music, Kriikku is a member of the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra and the Toimii ensemble (founded by Lindberg in 1980). If you are interested in hearing more of his playing, take a look at this YouTube video of his performance of klezmer, Arabic, and Portugese medleys with the Tapiola Sinfonietta.