Shirley Brill ( he, שירלי בריל; born 1982) is an Israeli clarinetist living in Germany.

Education and career

Born in Petah Tikva, Israel, Brill received her musical education in Israel from Yitzhak Katzap at the Petah Tikva Conservatory. From the year 2000, she continued her studies in Germany with

Sabine Meyer Sabine Meyer (born 30 March 1959) is a German classical clarinetist. Biography Born in Crailsheim, Baden-Württemberg, Meyer began playing the clarinet at an early age. Her first teacher was her father, also a clarinetist. She studied with Otto ...

at the

Musikhochschule Lübeck A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger ins ...

, as well as in the United States with

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 ...

at the

New England Conservatory of Music The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest independent music conservatory in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world. The conservatory is located on H ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. At the age of 16, she began her solo career with the

Israel Philharmonic Orchestra The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (abbreviation IPO; Hebrew: התזמורת הפילהרמונית הישראלית, ''ha-Tizmoret ha-Filharmonit ha-Yisra'elit'') is an Israeli symphony orchestra based in Tel Aviv. Its principal concert venue ...

under the direction of

Zubin Mehta Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mehta's father was the fou ...

. Since then she has appeared with a large number of international orchestras, such as the

Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO) is a German broadcast orchestra based in Berlin. The orchestra performs its concerts principally in the Philharmonie Berlin. The orchestra is administratively based at the ''Rundfunk Berlin-Branden ...

in the Great Hall of the Berlin Philharmonie, and collaborated with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, the

Geneva Chamber Orchestra , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ...

, the Symphony Orchestra of the National Theater of Prague, the

Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra The Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra ( pl, Polska Orkiestra Radiowa) is a Polish radio orchestra founded in 1945 in Warsaw by Stefan Rachoń. Initially, the orchestra made records only for Polish radio and television. In 1970, the orchestra bega ...

, the

Munich Symphony Orchestra The Munich Symphony Orchestra (Münchner Symphoniker) is a German orchestra based in Munich but active statewide in Bavaria. It gives subscription concerts at the Herkulessaal and the Prinzregententheater and, to a lesser degree, at the Philha ...

and the New Philharmonic of Westphalia. Brill has worked with leading conductors such as Daniel Barenboim,

Jeffrey Tate Sir Jeffrey Philip Tate (28 April 19432 June 2017) was an English conductor of classical music. Tate was born with spina bifida and had an associated spinal curvature. After studying medicine at the University of Cambridge and beginning a me ...

and Patrick Lange among others. She has been invited to international festivals such as the

BBC Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...

, the Festival of Radio France and Montpellier

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (; , ; oc, Lengadòc ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately ...

Roussillon, the Schubertiade in Austria, the Festival of Davos (Switzerland),

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the are ...

(Slovenia), the

Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival The Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival is a classical music festival held each summer throughout the state of Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany. History The festival was founded in 1986 by German concert pianist Justus Frantz. In 2006, the 2 ...

, the Mecklenburg Vorpommern Festival , the

Heidelberger Frühling The International Music Festival Heidelberger Frühling is an annual classical music festival held in Heidelberg in March and April since 1997, with over 100 events and 47,000 visitors (2018). In addition to the festival's productions and concert ...

, the

Rheingau Musik Festival The (RMF) is an international summer music festival in Germany, founded in 1987. It is mostly for classical music, but includes other genres. Concerts take place at culturally important locations, such as Eberbach Abbey and Schloss Johannisberg, ...

, and the

Spannungen Spannungen ("Tensions" or "Voltages") is an annual summer festival for chamber music in Heimbach, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, founded by pianist Lars Vogt in 1998. It is subtitled Musik im Kraftwerk Heimbach (Music in the Heimbach power p ...

chamber music festival. Her chamber music partners include Daniel Barenboim,

Janine Jansen Janine Jansen (born 7 January 1978) is a Dutch violinist and violist. Early life and education Jansen was born in Soest in the Netherlands and came from a musical family. Her father plays organ, harpsichord and piano; from 1987 to mid-2011 h ...

, Sabine Meyer,

Emmanuel Pahud Emmanuel Pahud (born 27 January 1970) is a Franco-Swiss flautist. He was born in Geneva, Switzerland. His father is of French and Swiss background and his mother is French. The Berlin-based flutistPatrick LamEmmanuel Pahud – The showcase behi ...

Tabea Zimmermann Tabea Zimmermann (born 8 October 1966) is a German violist. Born in Lahr, she began learning to play the viola at the age of three, and commenced piano studies at age five. At the age of 13, she studied viola with Ulrich Koch at the Conservat ...

, the Fauré Piano Quartet and the Quatuor Terpsycordes. Since 2009, Brill has been the principal clarinetist of the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim. From 2012 Shirley Brill was a guest professor at the

Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" ' (, plural: ') is the generic term in German for institutions of higher education, corresponding to ''universities'' and ''colleges'' in English. The term ''Universität'' (plural: ''Universitäten'') is reserved for institutions with the right to ...

in Berlin and since 2016 a faculty member at the Barenboim–Said Akademie. Since October 2018, Brill has been appointed Professor of Clarinet at the

Hochschule für Musik Saar The Hochschule für Musik Saar is a conservatory of music in Saarbrücken, Germany and dates back to 1947. From 1994 until 2002, it was named ''Hochschule des Saarlandes für Musik und Theater'' (University of Music and Drama Saarbrücken). Since ...

in Saarbrücken, Germany.

Personal life

Brill is married to Jonathan Aner, Israeli pianist, professor of chamber music in Berlin and her partner in the Duo Brillaner. They have 3 daughters, and live in Berlin.

Instruments

Shirley Brill plays on clarinets with French fingering system (Boehm), individually made for her by the manufacturer Schwenk & Seggelke. She has normal clarinets in B and A made of

grenadilla ''Dalbergia melanoxylon'' (African blackwood, grenadilla, or mpingo) is a flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, native to seasonally dry regions of Africa from Senegal east to Eritrea and south to the north-eastern parts of South Africa. The ...

mopane ''Colophospermum mopane'', commonly called mopane, mopani, balsam tree, butterfly tree, or turpentine tree, is a tree in the legume family (Fabaceae), that grows in hot, dry, low-lying areas, in elevation, in the far northern parts of southern A ...

(see the photo) and

boxwood ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South ...

and a

basset clarinet , french: clarinette de basset; it, clarinetto di bassetto; , classification = Aerophon, clarinet-family , hornbostel_sachs = , hornbostel_sachs_desc = , inventors = Theodor Lotz and others , developed = aroun ...

in A made of boxwood.

Awards

* 2003: Special prize of the

ARD International Music Competition The ARD International Music Competition (german: link=no, Internationaler Musikwettbewerb der ARD) is the largest international classical music competition in Germany. It is organised by the Bayerischer Rundfunk and held once a year in Munich. Si ...

* 2003: 1st Prize for Duo Brillaner at the 40th Possehl Music Competition * 2006: 2nd Prize International Clarinet Competition

Markneukirchen Markneukirchen () is a town in the Vogtlandkreis district, in Saxony, Germany, close to the Czech border. It lies in between the Erzgebirge and the Fichtelgebirge in the Elstergebirge, southeast of Plauen, and northeast of Aš (Czech Republic ...

(1st prize not awarded) * 2007: 2nd Prize Concours de

Genève , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

(1st prize not awarded) * 2010: Shirley Brill, on behalf of the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra founded by Daniel Barenboim, receives the Prize of the Peace of Westphalia.

Discography

2005: Duo Brillaner Debut (at MHL) with Jonathan Aner, including: * Carl Maria von Weber: Grand Duo Concertant Op. 48; * Camille Saint-Saëns: Sonata Op. 167; * Paul Ben-Haim: Pastorale Variée; * Krysztof Penderecki: 3 Miniatures; * Francis Poulenc: Sonata 2008: Weber & Baermann (at Pan Classics), with the Terpsycordes Quartet, the Geneva Chamber Orchestra and Patrick Lange, including: * Carl Maria von Weber: Clarinet Concerto in F minor, Op. 73 No. 1; * Heinrich Baermann: Quintet for clarinet and strings in E flat major, Op. 23, * Carl Maria von Weber: Quintet for clarinet and strings in B flat major, Op. 34 2009: Petite Pièce: French Miniatures for Clarinet and Piano (at Pan Classics) with Jonathan Aner, including: * Gabriel Pierné: Sérénade, Andante con Eleganza, Pièce and Canzonetta * Eugène Bozza: Fantasie Italienne, Idyll, Aria and Claribel * Philippe Gaubert: Fantaisie, Romance, Allegretto * Germaine Tailleferre: Trois Danses de la Nouvelle Cythère (Pavane, Nocturne, Galop) and Arabesque * Claude Debussy: Petite Pièce and Prèmiere Rhapsodie 2012: Françaix & Prokofiev (at Pan Classics) with the Romanian National Radio Orchestra and Adrian Morar, including: * Jean Françaix: Concerto for clarinet and orchestra * Sergei Prokofiev: Sonata Op. 94, (arrangement for clarinet and orchestra by Kent Kennan) * Jean Françaix: Tema con Variazioni 2017: Brahms & Janáček Sonatas (at hänssler Classic) with Jonathan Aner, including: *Johannes Brahms, Sonatas for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 120 Nr. 1 and Nr. 2 *Leoš Janáček, Sonata for Clarinet and Piano The artist is represented on YouTube with audio and video recordings, with audio recordings on Spotify and Deezer.

References

External links

*
Shirley Brill Biography
at America-Israel Cultural Foundation
Prof. Shirley Brill
at Hochschule für Musik Saar

at Concert agent Andreas Braun
YouTube-Video
Shirley Brill performs "Verdiana" on a Boxwood clarinet made in a modular design by Schwenk & Seggelke.
YouTube-Video
Shirley Brill performs Artie Shaw Clarinet Concerto
YouTube-Video
Duo Brillaner, Idylle by Eugène Bozza {{Authority control 1982 births Living people Israeli classical clarinetists Israeli classical musicians 21st-century clarinetists 20th-century clarinetists 20th-century Israeli women musicians 21st-century Israeli women musicians 20th-century classical musicians 21st-century classical musicians People from Petah Tikva Musicians from Berlin New England Conservatory alumni Israeli expatriates in Germany