Keith L. Wilson (1916 – June 2, 2013) was an American classical musician. He was a

clarinetist This article lists notable musicians who have played the clarinet. Classical clarinetists * Laver Bariu * Ernest Ačkun * Luís Afonso * Cristiano Alves * Michel Arrignon * Dimitri Ashkenazy * Kinan Azmeh * Alexander Bader * Carl Baermann * ...

, teacher, and conductor.

Career

Wilson was appointed to the faculty of the

Yale School of Music The Yale School of Music (often abbreviated to YSM) is one of the 12 professional schools at Yale University. It offers three graduate degrees: Master of Music (MM), Master of Musical Arts (MMA), and Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA), as well as a joi ...

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

, in 1946. He served as director of the Yale Bands until 1972. He later became associate dean of the School of Music and director of the Norfolk Summer School of Music. In February 1956 he led members of the Yale Concert Band in the first documented performance of "Set No. 1, Movement V, '

Calcium Light Night ''Calcium Light Night'' is a piece of music by American composer Charles Ives. It is one of his ''Cartoons or Take-Offs'' and is scored for piccolo, clarinet, cornet, trombone, bass drum, and two pianos (four players). (Ives suggested in a ...

'" by composer

Charles Ives Charles Edward Ives (; October 20, 1874May 19, 1954) was an American modernist composer, one of the first American composers of international renown. His music was largely ignored during his early career, and many of his works went unperformed f ...

. He retired in 1987 at the age of 70. "In 1943 while teaching at Yale University, composer

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ''Ne ...

composed ''Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes by

Carl Maria von Weber Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (18 or 19 November 17865 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and critic who was one of the first significant composers of the Romantic era. Best known for his opera ...

'' for symphony orchestra. His arrangement has become a cornerstone of the

concert band A concert band, also called a wind band, wind ensemble, wind symphony, wind orchestra, symphonic band, the symphonic winds, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of members of the woodwind, brass, and percussion famil ...

repertoire." (Smith, Norman. ''Program Notes for Band''. pg.292) His last appearance as soloist was the ''Concertino for Clarinet'' by

, with the Yale Concert Band (

Thomas C. Duffy Thomas C. Duffy, DMA (born June 17, 1955) is Professor (adjunct) of Music and the Director of Bands at Yale University. Biography Duffy received his Bachelor of Science in Music Education (magna cum laude) and Master of Music in Composition fr ...

, Music Director) on 6 December 1985. His last chamber music appearance was 15 July 1990 playing

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as H ...

's ''Contrasts'' for clarinet, violin and piano at the

Norfolk Chamber Music Festival The Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, hosted in Norfolk, Connecticut, is believed to be the oldest active summer music festival in North America. Set among the Litchfield Hills of the lower Berkshires, the Festival traces its roots to the Battell f ...

ion

Norfolk, Connecticut Norfolk () is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 1,588 at the 2020 census. The urban center of the town is the Norfolk census-designated place, with a population of 553 at the 2010 census. Norfolk is per ...

. Wilson's students included *

Derek Bermel Derek Bermel (born 1967, in New York City) is an American composer, clarinetist and conductor whose music blends various facets of world music, funk and jazz with largely classical performing forces and musical vocabulary. He is the recipie ...

(clarinetist, composer) * Max Christie (clarinetist) *Daniel Gilbert (clarinetist, formerly Cleveland Orchestra, teacher

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

) *

Walter Hekster Walter Hekster (29 March 1937 – 31 December 2012) was a Dutch composer, clarinetist and conductor of classical music, specializing in contemporary classical music. Biography Hekster graduated from the Amsterdam Academy of Music in 1961 studyi ...

(clarinetist, composer) * William Hudson (clarinetist, conductor) *David Irwin (clarinetist) *

Mitch Leigh Mitch Leigh (born Irwin Michnick; January 30, 1928March 16, 2014) was an American musical theatre composer and theatrical producer best known for the musical ''Man of La Mancha''. Biography Early years Leigh was born in Brooklyn, New York as Irw ...

(composer) *

Eric Mandat Eric Paul Mandat (born 1957) is an American clarinetist and composer. Mandat began his clarinet studies under the tutelage of Richard Joiner of the Denver Symphony. He later studied with Lee Gibson, Keith Wilson, D. Stanley Hasty, and Charles ...

(clarinetist, composer) * Peter Pastreich (former executive director San Francisco Symphony) *

Richard Stoltzman Richard Leslie Stoltzman (born July 12, 1942) is an American clarinetist. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, he spent his early years in San Francisco, California, and Cincinnati, Ohio, graduating from Woodward High School in 1960. Today, Stoltzman is part ...

(clarinetist) * Joaquin Valdepeñas (clarinetist Toronto Symphony)

Reception

In 1977

and others at the Yale School of Music established the Keith Wilson scholarship, to be awarded "to an outstanding major in wind instrument playing." On his retirement in 1987, the Yale School of Music commissioned a piece in his honor: "Songs of Sea and Sky" by Tasmanian/Australian composer

Peter Sculthorpe Peter Joshua Sculthorpe (29 April 1929 – 8 August 2014) was an Australian composer. Much of his music resulted from an interest in the music of countries neighboring Australia as well as from the impulse to bring together aspects of Aborigin ...

. In 1999 he was awarded the

Sanford Medal Samuel Simons Sanford (15 March 18496 January 1910) was an American pianist and educator. Early life He was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Education He studied piano in New York with William Mason (son of Lowell Mason and student of Franz Liszt ...

, the

's highest honor, and the Gustav Stoeckel Award, which honors faculty who have contributed to the life of the School of Music. Robert Blocker, Dean of the school, described Wilson as "one of Yale's most outstanding professors" and "the embodiment of all the Yale School of Music stands for and hopes to be." He was selected to conduct the

National Intercollegiate Band The National Intercollegiate Band (NIB) is a concert band, sponsored by honorary band fraternity and sorority Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma, that performs every two years at the national convention of the two organizations. Organized in ...

in 1967.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Keith 1916 births 2013 deaths American classical clarinetists American conductors (music) American male conductors (music)