Bruce Curlette

Fifteen Minutes of Fame: Bruce Curlette - 2013

Dr. Curlette is an active performer who has been featured on national venues such as the Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium and the national conference for the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors. Dr. Curlette has also taught the clarinet studio at The Ohio State University while its current professor, James Pyne, was on sabbatical. Prior to his tenure at Cedarville, Dr. Curlette was a member of the Grand Rapids Symphony and the Pittsburgh Ballet Orchestra. He received his M.M. degree in clarinet performance from Eastman School of Music in 1981 and his D.M.A. degree in clarinet performance from The Ohio State University in 1991. Dr. Curlette has studied with James M. Pyne, D. Stanley Hasty, Gervase de Peyer, and Carl H.C. Anderson and has been on the Cedarville music faculty since 2001.

Concert Dates

  • March 9, 2014 - New York City

15 one-minute selections for Bruce Curlette

Concert program

  • Behind His Words

    Rodrigo Baggio

    His music has been performed in many cities around the world such as São Paulo, Brasilia and Tatuí (Brazil), Paris (France), Quebec (Canada), Bremen (Germany), London (England), New York and Vermont (USA). As a performer, he has played concerts in different countries of the globe.

    "Behind His Words" was written based on a single melodic motif created by a musical cryptogram from the name of D. StAnlEy H-as-ty (D Eb A E B Ab). The melodic motif is played repeatedly, in different octaves, with special articulations, contrasting dynamics and particular rhythms through the entire piece.

  • Water and Oil

    Mathieu Dumont

    Born in 1984, Mathieu Dumont is holding a master in composition at Laval University (Quebec City). As well as being a versatile musician, he is also an accomplished guitarist. He has been writing classical music for several modern small chamber ensembles and popular music for musicals.

    Water and Oil is about a dialogue between two people : an hysterical and nervous person (fast melodic cells in the high register and then, in the low register) yelling to someone who is prompt to answer without arguing (the isolated accentuated-staccato notes preceded by grace notes in the medium register).

  • A Teacher Affects Eternity...

    Erik Branch

    Erik Branch is a native of New York City, and received an BA and MA in Music (Composition) from Hunter College. He lives near Orlando, Florida, where he is active as a pianist, musical director, composer/arranger, operatic tenor, and actor on stage and screen.

    The title comes from the Autobiography of Henry Adams: “A teacher affects eternity; he can never know where his influence stops.” This musical meditation is dedicated to William Bruce Curlette, to the memory of D. Stanley Hasty and of all teachers whose influence guided and has continued to guide us.

  • À La Deen

    Nicole DeMaio

    Nicole DeMaio (b. 1991) is a New Jersey based musician and is primarily a clarinetist. She is currently studying at the John J. Cali School of Music within Montclair State University for degrees in Music Education and Music Theory & Composition. Nicole has garnered many accolades for her music and has recently won the New Jersey Arts Collective's Pictures Composition Contest (with honorable mentions in 2010 and 2011).

    “À La Deen” was inspired by the compositions of Michael Mahadeen, a professor and friend of mine. Referred to as “The Deen” by many, Michael has served as a mentor throughout my college career thus far and has inspired me in many of my compositions and performances.

  • IMDSH

    Antonio Galanti

    Antonio Galanti, Italian composer, was born in 1964. He studied at the Florence Conservatory. He graduated in Piano, Composition, Organ, Band Instrumentation and Choral Music. At the Pisa University he graduated with top marks cum laude in History of Music. He is professor of Composition at the Alessandria Conservatory.

    IMDSH is a composition for Bb clarinet. The melodic line is based on the letter of Donald Stanley Hasty. The theme is presented in simply or in elaborated form. The clarinet registers are characterized by different writing and dynamic. There are unexpected changes of character, like a drama in miniature.

  • Élégie

    Philippe Gatien

    Philippe Gatien is a French Canadian composer based in Montreal.

    Élégie deploys slowly, in a solemn manner, within a simple mode. It lightens up at the end, with thrills in the clarinet's higher register.

  • Clarendon Gorge

    Fermino Gomes

    Fermino Gomes (Patos, PB, Brasil) studied theory with Gazi Sa and João de Barro at Caipira University of Paraiba (UNICPB), Brazil. As well as an active composer, Fermino performs on the viola (Brazilian 10 string-folk guitar) regularly. Fermino currently lives in New York City.

    Clarendon Gorge is a beautiful memory of a beautiful place visited with loved ones: water splashing on rocks, swirling in pools, while sunbeams break through the Vermont pines. All memories should be this sweet.

  • dolce espressivo

    David Heinick

    David Heinick’s (born 1954) music has been performed throughout the United States and Europe, broadcast on NPR, the CBC, and the BBC, and included on recordings on the Albany Records and Clique Tracks labels. He teaches at the Crane School of Music at SUNY-Potsdam.

    As a student, I often accompanied Mr. Hasty's students. "Dolce" and "espressivo" seemed to be opposites for him. I also learned his interpretations of much of the standard clarinet literature, including the Schumann Fantasy Pieces, for which he insisted that the piano triplets somehow align with the clarinet eighths.

  • Impromptu

    Kan-no Shigeru

    A Japanese Composer-Conductor. In Fukushima/ Japan. Studies in Fukushima, Tokyo, Wien, Stuttgart, Ludwigsburg and Frankfurt with Shimazu, I・Yun, Nishimura, Österreicher, Bernstein, Lachenmann, Rilling and Zender: theory, piano, composition, conducting and musicology. Get 58 times Competiton and Conducting Prizes, *over 150 Opera-repertoires, 700 Concert-repertoires.

    Is a sequel of I. A funeral music. The dynamic is still. The spring is less than I. II is a metamorphose from I. We play like take care of the affected part. At ending, the death waits by microtone. The music can die like such a thing.

  • The teacher and the pupil

    Vladimir Karpenko

    Vladimir Karpenko (1958) was born in Ridder (East Kazakhstan), studied in Almaty conservatory. Now he lives in Irkutsk, Russia. Нe is the composer, the musicologist, the pianist, the teacher. The author of compositions for a symphonic orchestra, chorus, chamber ensembles, a piano, a organ, vocal music.

    “The teacher and the pupil”. At a lesson the teacher plays scale. The pupil has to repeat, but is mistaken. Eventually the teacher too is mistaken and is very angry. It's our life.

  • Fantasia on 'HASTY'

    Steven H. Markowitz

    Steven H. Markowitz Studied Composing and Arranging at Dick Groves (Studio City California) in the mid 80's. He is an accomplished improviser at the piano keyboard, wherein he merges classical and jazz sonorities. Influences include Keith Jarrett, Eric Satie, and Sergei Prokofiev.

    The motific elements for this fantasia are derived from the letters H,a,s,t, & y. The note sequence E, A, D, D#, G# is chosen by measuring the distance between the letters in the name and converting to musical intervals.

  • SOJOURN

    William Price

    William Price's music has been performed at numerous international and national events, including the World Saxophone Congress, the Musica Viva Festival in Lisbon, and the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival. Price currently serves as Associate Professor of Music at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

    SOJOURN for solo Bb clarinet was composed in memory of clarinetist D. Stanley Hasty and dedicated to William Bruce Curlette. As the title suggests, our time on earth is only fleeting and we should make the most of our brief stay.

  • Soliloquy for Solo Clairnet

    Kevin Scott

    Born in 1956, Kevin Scott has composed music for every medium, and has received several awards from the Detroit Symphony and Duke University. He is also a noted conductor who has premiered numerous compositions, and at present is director of SUNY Orange County Community College's wind band program.

    Soliloquy for Solo Clairnet is written in remembrance of Dr. Curlette's teacher, imagining the musings of a premiere clarinetist communicating with the soul of music and interjecting different thoughts during his conversation with the space of the world.

  • Beyond the Break

    Paul Thomas

    Paul received his PhD in composition from the University of North Texas and holds degrees from Bowling Green State University and Cedarville University. Paul plays accordion in the improvisation ensemble Impulse and teaches theory and composition at Dallas Baptist University.

    Every student reaches a plateau and a teacher’s responsibility is to patiently guide the student through that static period and help them breakthrough to reach their potential. This piece uses the "break" in the clarinet as the proverbial plateau that the performer eventually, though hard work and persistence, overcomes.

  • Fantasy In Memoriam

    Benjamin Williams

    Benjamin Williams is a composer in central Mississippi and an Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Composition at Mississippi College. He is married to violinist Emily Williams.

    : In 2008 I participated in a composition competition hosted by James Pyne, judged by Stanley Hasty and reviewed by Bruce Curlette. I was inspired by the idea of musical ‘generations’ (from teacher to students) to create musical ‘generations’ starting with fragments from Bach’s “Chromatic Fantasy”, previously arranged by Hasty.