NEW CLASSICAL – JOHN BRUCE YEH

New Classical Featured Artist – 03/25/24 – 04/07/24

This week’s playlist (originally streamed in April of 2023) features performances by John Bruce Yeh, the assistant principal clarinetist and solo E-flat clarinetist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He was hired by Sir Georg Solti in 1977 at the young age of 19! The son of music-loving scientists in Los Angeles, John Bruce Yeh defines himself as a musical explorer. He pursued pre-medical studies at UCLA, where he won the Frank Sinatra Musical Performance Award and performed as Principal Clarinetist of the American Youth Symphony under Mehli Mehta. He entered the Juilliard School of Music in 1975 and also studied at Aspen, Marlboro, and Tanglewood. His many solo and chamber music recordings have earned wide critical acclaim. Constantly striving to find new types of expression in music, Yeh organized the Chicago Pro Musica in 1979, which won a Grammy award as Best New Classical Artist in 1986. Recently, Yeh co-founded the visual-musical quartet, INVENTIONS, together with clarinetist Teresa Reilly and mime artists T. Daniel and Laurie Willets.

We’ll be listening to many performances by John, specifically featuring music from his 2023 album, Chicago Clarinet Classics, which features the world-premiere recordings of Leo Sowerby’s Sonata for Clarinet and Piano; Shulamit Ran’s Spirit for solo B-flat Clarinet; Teresa Reilly’s The Forgiveness Train for two clarinets; and Stacey Garrop’s Phoenix Rising– the premiere recording arranged for clarinet. The two other clarinet works on the album are by composers Alexander Tcherepnin and Robert Muczynski. All pieces on the album have Chicago connections. We’ll hear John discuss with Salvador the inspiration behind the album, insights on the pieces, John’s musical background, and much more when you connect to Classical Music Indy Streaming’s New Classical channel.