An acclaimed soloist and widely sought-after chamber music collaborator, clarinetist MICHAEL NORSWORTHY has emerged as one of the most gifted artists of his generation.

Michael Norsworthy’s performances have taken him to distinguished concert venues throughout the world, including Vienna’s Musikverein, Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Philharmonie Hall, New York City’s Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Metropolitan Opera and Miller Theatre, Boston’s Jordan and Symphony Halls, St. Louis’ Sheldon Concert Hall, Festival Casals de Puerto Rico and the Aspen Music Festival. Recent seasons have included world premieres of works written for him by Michael Finnissy, Chris Dench and Pozzi Escot, domestic and international recital tours with pianists Marilyn Nonken, Molly Morkoski and Tyson Deaton, radio appearances on Boston’s WGBH, multiple performances on the Composer Portraits Series at New York’s Miller Theatre, recordings for the Mode, Gasparo, Canteloupe and Cauchemar labels and performances with leading contemporary music groups, including Klangforum Wien, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Manhattan Sinfonietta, Fromm Players at Harvard, Boston Musica Viva, Callithumpian Consort, Ensemble 21 and the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble.

Mr. Norsworthy’s current season is highlighted by return performances on the Composer Portraits Series at New York’s Miller Theatre for the music of Wolfgang Rihm and Gerald Barry, performances of music by Boulez and Felder on the Fromm Concerts in Boston, performances of Helmut Lachenmann’s music with the composer, concerts of music by Milton Babbitt and James Tenney at Merkin Hall in New York, the world premiere of a new work by Hans Tutschku, the world premiere of a new double clarinet concerto by Ezra Sims and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, recitals in Boston and Michigan and a five city Midwestern tour of Noel Zahler’s Clarinet Concerto.

A dedicated and persuasive champion of the music of our own time, Mr. Norsworthy has given premieres of over 100 works in collaboration with composers Milton Babbitt, Harrison Birtwistle, Elliott Carter, Chris Dench, Pozzi Escot, Brian Ferneyhough, Michael Finnissy, Lukas Foss, Hans Werner Henze, Magnus Lindberg, Ralph Shapey and Marc Anthony Turnage, among many others.

As soloist, Michael Norsworthy has performed an extensive repertoire of concerti, ranging from Mozart to Ferneyhough, with the Manhattan Sinfonietta, Kalistos Chamber Orchestra, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Callithumpian Consort, Pottstown Symphony, Soria Chamber Players, Southern Illinois Symphony and Symphony Pro Musica, He has also collaborated with Tony Arnold, Patrick Demenga, Stephen Drury, Aleck Karis, John Zorn, the Borromeo String Quartet, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and many players from major orchestras in Boston, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, London, Paris, Berlin and Vienna. Conductors he has worked with include Boulez, DePriest, Knussen, Levine, Milarsky, Muti, Robertson, Ozawa, Tilson Thomas and many others.

Mr. Norsworthy is the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions, among them: The John Cage Award, Borromeo String Quartet Guest Artist Award and Southern Illinois University’s Chancellor’s Research and Creativity Award, grants from the Yvar Mikahashoff Trust for New Music, St. Louis Artist Presentation Society and St. Botolph Club Foundation, as well as a fellowship from the Aspen Music Festival.

Mr. Norsworthy holds advanced degrees from New England Conservatory and Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and has attended Michigan State University. His teachers included Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr, Eric Mandat, Kalmen Opperman and Richard Stoltzman. He is co-director of the Sound Encounters Festival at the New England Conservatory, is currently artist in residence at Harvard University with the Harvard Group for New Music and serves on the faculties of The Boston Conservatory and Columbia University.

Michael Norsworthy plays exclusively on Buffet Clarinets, Rico Reserve Reeds and Bradford Behn Vintage Collection Mouthpieces. He is a performing artist for Buffet Crampon, the Parisian firm that is the world's oldest and most distinguished clarinet maker and Rico International, the world's largest and most popular manufacturer of reeds.

[2007 - 2008]