Dale Clevenger (July 2, 1940 – January 5, 2022) was an American musician who was the Principal Horn of the

Chicago Symphony Orchestra The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891. The ensemble makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenu ...

from 1966 until his retirement in June, 2013.
Strini, Tom "Clevenger the horn master provides tips aplenty," The Milwaukee Journal, January 16, 1983, page 7, Entertainment section. Retrieved November 8, 2010 Before joining the CSO, he was a member of

Leopold Stokowski Leopold Anthony Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British conductor. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra and his appear ...

's American Symphony Orchestra and the Symphony of the Air directed by

Alfred Wallenstein Alfred Wallenstein (October 7, 1898 – February 8, 1983) was an American cellist and conductor. A successful solo and orchestral cellist in his early life, Wallenstein took up conducting in the 1930s and served as music director of the Los ...

. He was also principal horn of the Kansas City Philharmonic.Chicago Symphony Orchestra - CSO Musicians Roster - Performer Bio
/ref> Prior to his death, he taught horn at the

Jacobs School of Music The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana, is a music conservatory established in 1921. Until 2005, it was known as the Indiana University School of Music. It has more than 1,500 students, approximately half of whom ar ...

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

Musical career

He started playing trumpet at age 11 and switched to horn at age 13. Clevenger's father was President of the Chattanooga Opera Association, and he was exposed to live orchestral music at an early age. He attended

Chattanooga High School Chattanooga High School was founded in the fall of 1874 in Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Tennessee. The school, sometimes called City High School, has evolved into two high schools: the Chattanooga High School Center for Creative Arts and the Cha ...

, aka "City High" when the band program was under the leadership of Richard Casavant, a scholar of marching band history. Clevenger received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Carnegie Mellon University,

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

, in 1962. Clevenger considered Arnold Jacobs and Adolph Herseth, former principal brass instrumentalists of the CSO, to be his

mentors Mentorship is the influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the personal and p ...

. Clevenger performed with many ensembles worldwide, including the

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(under Daniel Barenboim). He took part in many music festivals including the

Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival The Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival is a six-week-long summer Festival of chamber music held annually in July and August and located in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was founded in 1972 and presented its first series of concerts in 1973. Well-known mu ...

, Florida Music Festival,

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, Marrowstone Music Festival, Bellingham,

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, and Affinis Music Festival, Japan. He won a Grammy Award for "The

Antiphonal An antiphonary or antiphonal is one of the liturgical books intended for use (i.e. in the liturgical choir), and originally characterized, as its name implies, by the assignment to it principally of the antiphons used in various parts of the ...

Music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

of Gabrieli," which he recorded with members of the Chicago Symphony brass section, as well as the brass sections of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the

Cleveland Orchestra The Cleveland Orchestra, based in Cleveland, is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the " Big Five". Founded in 1918 by the pianist and impresario Adella Prentiss Hughes, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Se ...

. His recording of Mozart's horn concertos was named Record of the Year in

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on the

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an label

Hungaroton Hungaroton is the oldest record and music publisher company in Hungary. Hungaroton was founded in 1951, when its only competitors in the Hungarian music market were record labels like Melodiya, Supraphon and from other socialist countries. Prev ...

. He also was a featured soloist in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Grammy-winning Strauss Wind Concertos album, on which he plays Strauss's first horn concerto, as well as Andante for horn and piano in C major with Daniel Barenboim accompanying on piano. In 2003, Clevenger premiered John Williams' Concerto for Horn and Orchestra, a work written for him. In addition to performing, Clevenger was an experienced conductor. He was the Music Director of the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra from 1981 to 1995. He expanded his conducting career with numerous orchestras in North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, recently leading the Orquestra Sinfonica de Castilla y Leon with Daniel Barenboim as soloist. Dale Clevenger was President of the Italian Brass Week and taught at

Roosevelt University Roosevelt University is a private university with campuses in Chicago and Schaumburg, Illinois. Founded in 1945, the university was named in honor of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The unive ...

during his time in Chicago. After retirement from the CSO in 2013, he also taught at the

Personal life and death

Clevenger married Alice Anne Render of

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, also a skilled hornist. The couple had two sons, Mac and Jesse. His wife died in 2011. He also had two children from his first marriage, Michael and Ami, and after that he’s been married with an Italian woman Giovanna Grassi for nine years till the year he died. He died from complications of Waldenström's macroglobulinemia at a hospital near his residence in Brescia on January 5, 2022, at the age of 81.

Reviews by music critics

Over the years, critics have written of his playing as being "satin smooth (1975)," as having "mellow radiance and gentle flow...despite a few inconsequential fluffs (1978)," and of his "pianissimo trills and daredevil octaves (1981)." He has also been said to have "an unfailing sense of direction in phrasing (1983)", "well drawn legato phrases" despite "regrettable lapses of intonation in the fast ornamental section (1984)" and "smooth control (1991)." In 2010, his horn solos received some negative reviews from music critics at ''

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'' and the

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, with the latter describing his work as "unpredictable horn solos, some firm, others faltering. Flaws in a performance of Mahler's 3rd Symphony on November 1, 2012, were cited in three separate reviews, with the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' calling his performance "saddening".

Discography

* ''The Antiphonal Music of Gabrieli'' (1968) *: The Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Chicago Brass Ensembles *: Richard Burgin, conductor * ''Britten:

Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings The ''Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings'', Op. 31, is a song cycle written in 1943 by Benjamin Britten for tenor, solo horn and a string orchestra. Composed during the Second World War at the request of the horn player Dennis Brain, it is a ...

'' *: Robert Tear (tenor), Chicago Symphonic Orchestra *: Carlo Maria Giulini, conductor * ''Mozart: 3rd Horn Concerto K 447 (1985) *: Dale Clevenger, horn *:

Claudio Abbado Claudio Abbado (; 26 June 1933 – 20 January 2014) was an Italian conductor who was one of the leading conductors of his generation. He served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony ...

, conductor * ''Mozart: Four Horn Concertos'' (1996) *: Dale Clevenger, horn *: Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra *: János Rolla, conductor * ''Richard Strauss: Wind Concertos'' (2001) *: Dale Clevenger, horn *:

*: Daniel Barenboim, conductor * ''The Chicago Principal: First Chair Soloist Play Famous Concertos'' (2003) *:

* ''Haydn Horn Concertos'' (2006) *: Dale Clevenger, horn *: Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra *: János Rolla, conductor * ''Richard & Franz Strauss: Horn Concertos'' (2006) *: Steven Gross, horn *: Philharmonia Orchestra of Bratislava *: Dale Clevenger, conductor

References

External links

Faculty profile at Indiana University
* *

by Bruce Duffie, October 16, 2003
Remembering Dale Clevenger
by Frank Villella,
From the Archives
' blog, January 6, 2022 {{DEFAULTSORT:Clevenger, Dale 1940 births 2022 deaths Deaths from cancer in Lombardy Deaths from lymphoma American classical horn players Musicians from Chicago People from Winnetka, Illinois People from Chattanooga, Tennessee Roosevelt University faculty Classical musicians from Illinois Classical musicians from Tennessee Carnegie Mellon University College of Fine Arts alumni Jacobs School of Music faculty