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, Barbara White,

Steve Mackey Stephen Patrick Mackey (born 10 November 1966) is an English musician and record producer best known as the bass guitarist for the alternative rock band Pulp, which he joined in 1989. As a record producer, he has produced songs and albums by M ...

, Elinor Armer, and

Eric Ewazen Eric Ewazen (; born March 1, 1954, Cleveland, Ohio) is an American composer and teacher. Biography Ewazen studied composition under Samuel Adler, Milton Babbitt, Gunther Schuller, Joseph Schwantner, Warren Benson, and Eugene Kurtz at the Ea ...

Career

Composer

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

San Francisco Symphony The San Francisco Symphony (SFS), 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 neighborhood. The San Fr ...

, Prism Quartet,

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

, Empyrian Ensemble, Wild Rumpus, Woodstock Chamber Orchestra, and the

JACK Quartet The JACK Quartet is an American string quartet dedicated to the performance of contemporary classical music. It was founded in 2005 and is based in New York City. The four founding members are violinists Christopher Otto and Ari Streisfeld, viol ...

. The

Imani Winds Imani Winds is an American wind quintet based in New York City, United States. The group was founded by flutist Valerie Coleman in 1997 and is known for its adventurous and diverse programming, which includes both established and newly composed wo ...

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 A wind quintet, also known as a woodwind quintet, is a group of five wind players (most commonly flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn and bassoon). Unlike the string quartet (of 4 string instruments) with its homogeneous blend of sound color, the in ...

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 Cornelius Boots (Cornelius Shinzen Boots) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. Best known for founding and leading Edmund Welles, the only composing bass clarinet quartet in the world, he now mainly plays and composes for the sha ...

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