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Clifton Pianist for Stanley Drucker Masterclass at UF
Bolles Chorus Director Rachel Clifton served as the pianist for the clarinet masterclass featuring Stanley Drucker, retired principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic, held May 1 at the University of Florida.
Drucker’s tenure with the New York Philharmonic lasted a record 48 years. He has been twice nominated for Grammy Awards for his recordings of Aaron Copland’s Concerto under conductor Leonard Bernstein, and for John Corigliano’s Concerto with Zubin Mehta. He has performed in more than 60 countries. Drucker has the distinction of being one of the few living orchestral musicians whose biography appears in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
Clifton was invited to perform in the masterclass at the request of Mitchell Estrin, associate professor of clarinet at UF. Estrin studied clarinet with Drucker at the Juilliard School where he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees and was a Naumburg Scholar. The masterclass attracted numerous musicians including Dr. Keith Koons, President-Elect of the International Clarinet Association, and Michael Getzin, Founder and CEO of the World Clarinet Alliance.
In addition to numerous local and state performances, Clifton has appeared in recital at the international clarinet conferences in New Orleans, Vancouver, and Kansas City. In August, she will serve as a faculty member of the Buffet Crampon Clarinet Academy for the third year. At last summer’s Academy, she performed with Andre Moisan of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal. She was pianist for the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra’s CD recording of Carmina Burana, and JSO musician Aaron Brask’s CD The Guaraldi Sessions. Clifton has been the recipient of the Theodore Presser Award for outstanding musicianship.