David Shifrin — Clarinet
David Shifrin is one of the world’s foremost clarinetists, renowned for his artistry as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and teacher. A winner of both the Avery Fisher Career Grant (1987) and the Avery Fisher Prize (2000), Shifrin has appeared with many of the world’s great orchestras, including the Philadelphia and Minnesota Orchestras and the Dallas, Seattle, Houston, Milwaukee, Detroit, Fort Worth, Hawaii, and Phoenix Symphonies, as well as ensembles in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Korea, China, and Taiwan.
As a recitalist, he has earned acclaim in venues such as Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, and the 92nd Street Y in New York, as well as the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. A sought-after chamber musician, he has collaborated with the Guarneri, Tokyo, Emerson, Orion, Dover, and Miró String Quartets, and with distinguished artists including Wynton Marsalis, André Watts, Emanuel Ax, and André Previn.
An artist member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (since 1989), Shifrin served as its Artistic Director (1992–2004), touring extensively and appearing on PBS’s Live from Lincoln Center. He also led Chamber Music Northwest in Portland (1981–2020) and is currently the Artistic Director of the Phoenix Chamber Music Festival. His orchestral appointments include serving as Principal Clarinetist with the Cleveland Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra, Honolulu Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, New York Chamber Symphony, and the New Haven Symphony.
A dedicated educator, Shifrin has been on the faculty of the Yale School of Music since 1987, where he also directs Yale’s Chamber Music Society and its Carnegie Hall series. He has held teaching positions at Juilliard, USC, University of Michigan, Cleveland Institute of Music, and the University of Hawaii. In 2007, he was awarded an honorary professorship at China’s Central Conservatory in Beijing.
Shifrin’s extensive discography spans Delos, DGG, Angel/EMI, Arabesque, BMG, SONY, and CRI. His recordings have earned three Grammy nominations and widespread praise, including Stereo Review’s Record of the Year for his performance of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto on a specially built elongated clarinet. Recent releases include clarinet trios with David Finckel and Wu Han (ArtistLed), Nielsen works (Delos), and new clarinet quintets by Peter Schickele, Richard Danielpour, Aaron Jay Kernis, Valerie Coleman, Chris Rogerson, and Duke Ellington (arr. Schiff).
Shifrin has been a champion of 20th- and 21st-century American composers, commissioning and premiering works by John Adams, Joan Tower, Stephen Albert, Bright Sheng, John Corigliano, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Valerie Coleman, and many others. His contributions have been recognized with honors including the NEA Solo Recitalists’ Fellowship, Concert Artists Guild Virtuoso Award (2016), Honorary Membership of the International Clarinet Association (2014), and lifetime achievement awards from Interlochen, Music Academy of the West, Yale University, and Chamber Music America.
Shifrin performs on a Backun “Lumière” clarinet and Légère premium reeds, and is represented by CM Artists New York.