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Faculty artist and professor at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) where he teaches clarinet and woodwind chamber music, Gray was principal clarinetist of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for twenty years. A faculty artist for many years at the Aspen Music Festival, Mr. Gray is active in chamber music festivals in the U.S., England, France and Japan. He has recorded both solo and chamber music for the Nonesuch, RCA, Laurel, Vox and Centaur labels, and has given Master Classes at Universities and Colleges throughout the world. His Grammy nominated recording of the Copland Clarinet Concerto was included in the underscoring for the Ken Burns 2007 PBS documentary “THE WAR.”
Chamber groups with Gary Gray: “Gray handled the clarinet solos with stunning ease and as mellow and gorgeous a sound as may be possible on his instrument.” —Los Angeles Times |
Gary Gray studied clarinet with Robert McGinnis and chamber music with Janos Starker at the Indiana University School of Music. He is faculty artist and professor at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) where he teaches clarinet and woodwind chamber music. Gray was principal clarinetist of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for twenty years.
His concerto appearances include the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Aspen Chamber Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony and the Indianapolis Symphony among others. He has collaborated with Aaron Copland, Elliot Carter, Benjamin Britten, Ned Rorem, Malcolm Arnold, Pierre Boulez and Igor Stravinsky.
A faculty artist for many years at the Aspen Music Festival, Mr. Gray is active in chamber music festivals in the U.S., England, France and Japan, and has performed with such artists as Itzhak Perlman, Mischa Dichter, James Levine, Milton Thomas and the Alexander, Cleveland and Angeles Quartets. He has recorded both solo and chamber music for the Nonesuch, RCA, Laurel and Vox labels, and has given Master Classes at Universities and Colleges throughout the United States, in Japan, France and Great Britain (Royal College of Music). In the summer of 2007 he joined the Alexander String Quartet of San Francisco for an International Chamber Music program in Florence, Italy which was sponsored by the California State University network.
Gray’s musical tastes and skills are wide ranging. He has vast experience as a jazz musician – and has performed with the big bands of Nelson Riddle, Clare Fisher and bassist John Clayton. He has recorded with an unusual variety of musical luminaries from Jascha Heifitz, and John Williams to the Dixie Chicks and Paul McCartney. He can also be heard on numerous movie and television soundtracks.
Gray’s CD of solo concerti, recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Soloist with Orchestra. This was only the second time in Grammy history that a clarinet album received such a nomination. The Copland Clarinet Concerto on this CD was included in the underscoring for the Ken Burns 2007 PBS documentary “THE WAR”.
Website: clarinetbygray.com
“Gary Gray handled the clarinet solos with stunning ease and as mellow and gorgeous a sound as may be possible on that instrument.”
—Los Angeles Times
“Clarinetist Gray is a musician right to the heart...his inspired phrasing made the music alive with conversation. His performance was an exemplar of superior American wind playing.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
“Gray may have the best sound of any clarinetist in the music business. I recommend this Sonata CD which is a highly-polished piece of work and enjoyable throughout.”
—Fanfare Magazine
“The happy peak of this concert was Gray's effortless, elegant and energetic playing of the Copland Clarinet Concerto.”
—Los Angeles Times
“A gifted colorist, this soloist exhibits with rare intelligence his instrument's large palette of sonorities, particularly in the Dance Preludes of Lutoslawski. Gray is a musician who deserves our special attention.”
—Diapason Magazine, France
“In Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, Gary Gray astonished with his liquid clarinet solos.”
—Los Angeles Times
“Guest Artist Gary Gray expressed the romanticism of the Brahms' E flat Clarinet Sonata with persuasive power at last night's Tsuda Hall Concert. He made an excellent case for his instrument as a solo vehicle and contributed much to the success of the All-Brahms Evening.”
—Tokyo Monthly Concert Review
“Mozart's Clarinet Quintet K581 was sparked by Gray's stylish eloquence and technical dazzle.”
—Los Angeles Times
“Gray seemed one with his instrument during the Clarinet Concerto...his performance was flawless.”
—Oakland Tribune
“Gray’s tender and varied version of the Copland Concerto gives equal prominence to the work’s lyric spans and its more obvious jazz elements…it’s a terrific recording.”
—Los Angeles Times
“The composer gave a clarinetist of Gray's caliber ample opportunity to float long, limber lines, which he did with effortless poise and eloquent point.”
—Los Angeles Times
“Gary Gray, Professor at UCLA and widely heard west coast performer, sounds to me about as close to Reginald Kell (another iconoclast) as I have ever heard.”
—American Record Guide
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Saint-Saëns Sonata for clarinet and piano, op. 161
CD available at Amazon
Lutoslawski Dance Preludes for clarinet and orchestra, second movement
CD available at Amazon
Brahms Clarinet Quintet in B minor, third movement
CD available at amazon.com