Event Title
Spirit (2018) by Shulamit Ran
Performer / Ensemble
Lisa Perry (Clarinet)
Date of Publication
3-26-2021
Document Type
Concert
Abstract / Program Notes
Spirit (2018), by Shulamit Ran, is an encompassing and vibrant piece for unaccompanied clarinet written in memory of clarinetist Laura Flax. Throughout her career Flax was an advocate for women in music, commissioning and elevating a multitude of works written by women, including: Ran's For an Actor: Monologue for clarinet in A, as well as Wings by Joan Tower. Ran has described her music as “freely atonal,” which can be heard in Spirit’s sense of harmonic openness, along with structural and rhythmic freedom. The piece features the full expressive range of the clarinet with vibrant technical lines, witty use of articulation, and ethereal sustained passages. It has made an exceptional new addition to the unaccompanied clarinet repertoire.
Biography
Currently based in Johnson City, Tennessee, clarinetist Lisa Perry is the Lecturer of Clarinet at East Tennessee State University. Dr. Perry has appeared with the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra, the North Carolina Master Chorale, the Taneycomo Festival Orchestra, the Stamford International Chamber Music Festival (UK), and has recorded for Minnesota Public Radio (MPR). As a member of the International Clarinet Association, Dr. Perry has appeared in The Clarinet Journal and performed at the 2015 ICA Southeastern Festival in Birmingham, Alabama, the 2012 ClarinetFest in Lincoln, Nebraska, and the 2019 ClarinetFest in Knoxville, Tennessee. During the summer, Dr. Perry has assisted at the Interlochen Center for Arts Clarinet Academy and has been on faculty at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp (MI), the Minnesota Clarinet Academy (MN), the International Music Camp in North Dakota/Canada, and has served on faculty and adjudicated for the International Clarinet Workshop and Competition (ICW) in Mizra, Israel. Dr. Perry earned her doctor of musical arts degree in clarinet performance at the University of Minnesota where she was a Berneking fellowship recipient. She received her master of music degree in clarinet performance at Florida State University where she served as a graduate teaching assistant. Lisa also holds a bachelor of music degree in clarinet performance from East Carolina University. Her teachers include Janice Lipson, Michael Cyzewski, Anne Dervin, Christopher Grymes, Frank Kowalsky, and Alexander Fiterstein.
Keywords
Clarinet, Laura Fax, women in music
Description
10-minute showcase performance
Spirit (2018) by Shulamit Ran
Spirit (2018), by Shulamit Ran, is an encompassing and vibrant piece for unaccompanied clarinet written in memory of clarinetist Laura Flax. Throughout her career Flax was an advocate for women in music, commissioning and elevating a multitude of works written by women, including: Ran's For an Actor: Monologue for clarinet in A, as well as Wings by Joan Tower. Ran has described her music as “freely atonal,” which can be heard in Spirit’s sense of harmonic openness, along with structural and rhythmic freedom. The piece features the full expressive range of the clarinet with vibrant technical lines, witty use of articulation, and ethereal sustained passages. It has made an exceptional new addition to the unaccompanied clarinet repertoire.