Artists

Biography:

Richard Stoltzman’s virtuosity, musicianship and sheer personal magnetism have made him one of today’s most sought-after concert artists. As soloist with more than a hundred orchestras, as a captivating recitalist and chamber music performer, as an innovative jazz artist, and as a prolific recording artist, two-time GRAMMY® Award winner Stoltzman has defied categorization, dazzling critics and audiences alike throughout many musical genres.

Stoltzman graduated from Ohio State University with a double major in music and mathematics. He earned his Master of Music degree at Yale University while studying with Keith Wilson, and later worked toward a doctoral degree with Kalmen Opperman at Columbia University. As a ten-year participant in the Marlboro Music Festival, Stoltzman gained extensive chamber music experience, and subsequently became a founding member of the noted ensemble TASHI, which made its debut in 1973.

Since then, Stoltzman’s unique style of playing the clarinet has earned him an international reputation as he has opened up possibilities for the instrument that no one could have predicted. He gave the first clarinet recitals in the histories of both the Hollywood Bowl and Carnegie Hall, and he became the first wind player to be awarded the Avery Fisher Prize. He was featured in the International EMMY® Award-winning series Concerto! with Dudley Moore and Michael Tilson Thomas, and was awarded the prestigious Sanford Medal by the Yale School of Music. In 2013, Stoltzman was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

His talents as a jazz performer as well as a classical artist have been heard far beyond his annual tours. He has performed or recorded with such jazz and pop greats as Gary Burton, the Canadian Brass, Chick Corea, Judy Collins, Steve Gadd, Eddie Gómez, Keith Jarrett, the King’s Singers, Mike Mainieri, George Shearing, Wayne Shorter, Mel Tormé, Spyro Gyra founder Jeremy Wall and Kazumi Watanabe. His commitment to new music has resulted in the commissioning and premiere of numerous new works for the clarinet, including Fantasma/Cantos by Tōru Takemitsu, the 1994 winner of Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, ‘Landscapes with Blues’ by Stephen Hartke, a concerto by Einojuhani Rautavaara, which premiered with conductor Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall, TRIO 2009 written for him, cellist Lynn Harrell and pianist Robert Levin by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, Yehudi Wyner and most recently, Marika Groove by Chick Corea, written for him and marimbist, Mika Stoltzman, which premiered with Eddie Gómez and Steve Gadd at Carnegie Hall.

Richard Stoltzman has a discography numbering over 80 releases on BMG/RCA, Sony Classical, MMC, BIS, Albany and other labels, including a GRAMMY® Award-winning recording of Brahms Sonatas with Richard Goode. Among Stoltzman’s most beloved releases are Amber Waves, a CD of American works, and the Trios of Beethoven, Brahms and Mozart with Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma, which won Stoltzman his second GRAMMY® Award. Acclaimed recordings include Hartke’s ‘Landscapes with Blues’ with IRIS, conducted by Michael Stern (Naxos), a New York Times ‘Best of 2003’, Rautavaara’s Clarinet Concerto recorded with Leif Segerstam and the Helsinki Philharmonic (Ondine), and an all-Bach recording, Vibrations and Fantasies (BMG Japan), among others. Recent recordings range from William Bolcom’s Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra and Clare Fischer’s The Duke, Swee’Pea and Me (Marquis Classics) to Chick Corea’s Marika Groove (Big Round Records) and Resolve (Navona Records), featuring Hindemith works. In May 2017, Sony Classical issued a 40-CD box set celebrating the variety and depth of Stoltzman’s artistry. 2017 also saw the release of Duo Cantando with Mika Stoltzman, marimba (Savoy/Denon), followed by three more recent releases: Palimpsest (AVIE Records), Taperebá (Big Round Records), and Spirit of Chick Corea (Eight Islands Records).