Jonathan Russell (born 1979) is an American composer of classical music, clarinetist, and bass clarinetist. Russell was the founder of the Switchboard Music Festival, which will hold its 10th anniversary in the summer of 2018. His primary teachers have included

Paul Lansky Paul Lansky (born June 18, 1944, in New York City) is an American composer. Biography Paul Lansky (born 1944) is an American composer. He was educated at Manhattan's High School of Music and Art, Queens College and Princeton University, studyi ...

, Barbara White, Steve Mackey, Elinor Armer, and Eric Ewazen.

Career

Composer

Russell has been commissioned by, worked with, and written for ensembles including the

San Francisco Symphony The San Francisco Symphony, founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley, San Francisco, Hayes Valley ne ...

, Prism Quartet,

Symphony Number One Symphony Number One (SNO) is a chamber orchestra primarily devoted to new music based in Baltimore, Maryland. SNO performs each year in musical venues in Mount Vernon, Baltimore, at Morgan State University, and across the city. Jordan Randall Sm ...

, Empyrian Ensemble, Wild Rumpus, Woodstock Chamber Orchestra, and the JACK Quartet. The Imani Winds has a long-term relationship with Mr. Russell through the wind quintets Legacy Commissioning Project, which has led to three large scale arrangements of orchestral works for woodwind quintet.

Clarinet and bass clarinet

Soloist

A frequent composer for various clarinets, Russell frequently solos as a bass clarinetist, performing his own and other works. Among his own works, he premiered his Sonata for Bass Clarinet and Piano with pianist Kate Campbell which Campbell herself commissioned. Mr. Russell's performance of Debussy's Premiere Rhapsody was noted for giving, “increasing energy, leading to a smashingly tangy conclusion from a lurking opening. Russell is a real virtuoso with true command over his instrument’s range of expression…”

Sqwonk

Along with his partner Jeff Anderle, the bass clarinet duo Sqwonk performed in the San Francisco area. The ensemble has self-released several albums of original music for bass clarinet duo as well as works for small ensemble.

Edmund Welles

Sqwonk members Anderle and Russell join with Cornelius Boots and Aaron Novik to form quartet Edmund Welles: The Bass Clarinet Quartet which themselves also have their own discography.

List of works

Original works

* ''...and the Beast'' * ...''in the fir trees: fireflies'' * Bass Clarinet Concerto * Bass Clarinet Double Concerto * ''Claremont Suite'' * ''Groove: for Bass Clarinet Solo'' * ''Eleven'' * ''KlezDuo'' (2005) * ''Lament and Frippery'' * ''Light Cathedral'' * Octet * ''O Cool is the Valley Now'' * ''Rain Has Fallen'' * ''Repetitive Stress'' * Sonata for Bass Clarinet and Piano * String Quartet * ''Supra'' * ''Technobabble'' * ''Twelve Bean Groove Machine''

Arrangements

* Rimsky Korsakov: ''Scheherazade'' * Holst: ''The Planets'' * Stravinsky: ''The Rite of Spring''

Discography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Jonathan 1979 births Living people 21st-century American composers Harvard University alumni American jazz clarinetists Edmund Welles members