Julian Bliss
Encyclopedia
Julian Bliss is a British
clarinetist and clarinet designer. He has performed both as a soloist and as a chamber musician, notably with his teacher Sabine Meyer
. He also recently designed the Bliss Clarinet for instrument manufacturer Leblanc
.
Bliss earned his Postgraduate Artist's Diploma from Indiana University
in 2001 at age 12, but he was not awarded his diploma until he graduated from high school. He studied first with David Johnston at Harpenden, Paul Harris
, then with Howard Klug
at Indiana
and now with Sabine Meyer
in Germany
at the Musikhochschule. He studies chamber music
, conducting
and studio technology at the Royal Academy of Music
in London
.
(during the Prom at the Palace
) by royal invitation. He also performed at the Queen's 80th birthday.
He has appeared as a soloist with many orchestras, including the London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France
, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
, Seattle Symphony
, BBC Philharmonic
, NHK Symphony, Malaysian Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic and the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland Junior Orchestra. He has performed at Lincoln Centre in New York City
and the Louvre
in Paris
.
Bliss also has a career as a chamber music
ian. He has collaborated with many of the world's top classical artists, including Joshua Bell
, Stephen Kovacevich
, Elena Bashkirova
, Julian Rachlin
, and Hélène Grimaud
.
He was the subject of a three-part made-for-television documentary
entitled "Gifted". He also appeared on the Today program in the United States and on NHK in Japan
.
The design deviates from standard synthetic clarinets in that it does not use acrylonitrile butadiene styrene
(ABS), but instead uses a custom composite that produces 20% more amplitude
. The barrel and bell are narrower (and thus lighter) than standard clarinets, and the keys are plated in black nickel
to differentiate the clarinet's appearance from those with traditional silver-colored keys. The bore has several tapers and is manufactured to tolerances of hundreds of thousandths of an inch. The right hand trill keys are above the gravity line to reduce the risk of water in the tone holes.
's main label.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
clarinetist and clarinet designer. He has performed both as a soloist and as a chamber musician, notably with his teacher Sabine Meyer
Sabine Meyer
Sabine Meyer is a German classical clarinetist.-Biography:Meyer began playing the clarinet at an early age. Her first teacher was her father, also a clarinetist...
. He also recently designed the Bliss Clarinet for instrument manufacturer Leblanc
Leblanc (musical instrument manufacturer)
Leblanc, Inc. is a musical instrument manufacturer based in Kenosha, Wisconsin.The company was purchased on 1 August 2004 by Steinway Musical Instrument Company, which now operates Leblanc as a division of its Conn-Selmer subsidiary.Leblanc inc...
.
Education
Bliss started playing clarinet at age 4, when he was given a Lyons C Clarinet, a clarinet designed to let children begin the clarinet four or more years younger than usual. Most students do not play wind instruments until age 11 or 12.Bliss earned his Postgraduate Artist's Diploma from Indiana University
Indiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
in 2001 at age 12, but he was not awarded his diploma until he graduated from high school. He studied first with David Johnston at Harpenden, Paul Harris
Paul Harris (musician)
Paul Harris is a keyboards player and session musician.Harris appears on several albums of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s by leading artists such as Stephen Stills, B. B. King, Judy Collins, Al Kooper, ABBA, Eric Andersen, Rick Derringer, Nick Drake, John Sebastian, Joe Walsh, Seals & Crofts and Dan...
, then with Howard Klug
Howard Klug
Howard Klug is an American clarinetist and university professor.- Performance career :Howard Klug has been a chamber musician, soloist, and clinician throughout the United States, Great Britain, Belgium, Portugal, Austria, Venezuela, China and Israel. A former member of the U.S. Air Force Band in...
at Indiana
Jacobs School of Music
The Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, is a music conservatory established in 1921. Until 2005, it was known as the Indiana University School of Music...
and now with Sabine Meyer
Sabine Meyer
Sabine Meyer is a German classical clarinetist.-Biography:Meyer began playing the clarinet at an early age. Her first teacher was her father, also a clarinetist...
in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
at the Musikhochschule. He studies chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
, conducting
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
and studio technology at the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Music career
Bliss won the 2001 Concerto Soloists Young Artists Competition in Philadelphia. In 2002, he performed at Queen Elizabeth II's Golden JubileeGolden Jubilee of Elizabeth II
The Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II was the international celebration marking the 50th anniversary of the accession of Elizabeth II to the thrones of seven countries, upon the death of her father, George VI, on 6 February 1952, and was intended by the Queen to be both a commemoration of her 50...
(during the Prom at the Palace
Prom at the Palace
The Prom at the Palace was a classical music concert held in London in 2002. The event was in commemoration of the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II. It was held at Buckingham Palace on 1 June 2002 forming part of the Golden Jubilee Weekend. It was the classical equivalent of the Party at the Palace,...
) by royal invitation. He also performed at the Queen's 80th birthday.
He has appeared as a soloist with many orchestras, including the London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France
Orchestre National de France
The Orchestre national de France is a symphony orchestra run by Radio France. It has also been known as the Orchestre national de la Radiodiffusion française and Orchestre national de l'Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française .Since 1944, the orchestra has been based in the Théâtre...
, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England. The Orchestra's current chief executive, appointed in 1999, is Stephen Maddock...
, Seattle Symphony
Seattle Symphony
The Seattle Symphony is an American orchestra based in Seattle, Washington. Since 1998, the orchestra is resident at Benaroya Hall. The orchestra's season runs from September through July, and serves as the pit orchestra for most productions of the Seattle Opera in addition to its own concerts...
, BBC Philharmonic
BBC Philharmonic
The BBC Philharmonic is a British broadcasting symphony orchestra based at Media City UK, Salford, England. It is one of five radio orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation. The orchestra's primary concert venue is the Bridgewater Hall....
, NHK Symphony, Malaysian Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic and the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland Junior Orchestra. He has performed at Lincoln Centre in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
Bliss also has a career as a chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
ian. He has collaborated with many of the world's top classical artists, including Joshua Bell
Joshua Bell
Joshua David Bell is an American Grammy Award-winning violinist.-Childhood:Bell was born in Bloomington, Indiana, United States, the son of a psychologist and a therapist. Bell's father is the late Alan P...
, Stephen Kovacevich
Stephen Kovacevich
Stephen Kovacevich , who has also been known as Stephen Bishop and Stephen Bishop-Kovacevich is an American classical pianist and conductor.-Biography:...
, Elena Bashkirova
Elena Bashkirova
Elena Dmitrievna Bashkirova is a Russian-born pianist and musical director.She was born in Moscow, the daughter of pianist and teacher Dimitri Bashkirov...
, Julian Rachlin
Julian Rachlin
Julian Rachlin is a Lithuanian-born violinist and violist.-Background and early life:Born in Vilnius, he emigrated in 1978 with his musician parents to Austria. In 1983, he entered the Konservatorium Wien and studied violin in the Soviet tradition with Boris Kuschnir, while also receiving private...
, and Hélène Grimaud
Hélène Grimaud
Hélène Grimaud is a French pianist.-Biography:Grimaud was born in Aix-en-Provence, France. Although her autobiography Variations Sauvages suggests a...
.
He was the subject of a three-part made-for-television documentary
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
entitled "Gifted". He also appeared on the Today program in the United States and on NHK in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
Leblanc Bliss
In collaboration with Leblanc, Bliss developed the Leblanc Bliss clarinet. Says Bliss of the line: "I know I can pick up any Bliss clarinet and be able to perform at the level to which I am accustomed." He characterizes the clarinet's design as "wicked".The design deviates from standard synthetic clarinets in that it does not use acrylonitrile butadiene styrene
Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene
Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene is a common thermoplastic. Its melting point is approximately 105 °C ....
(ABS), but instead uses a custom composite that produces 20% more amplitude
Amplitude
Amplitude is the magnitude of change in the oscillating variable with each oscillation within an oscillating system. For example, sound waves in air are oscillations in atmospheric pressure and their amplitudes are proportional to the change in pressure during one oscillation...
. The barrel and bell are narrower (and thus lighter) than standard clarinets, and the keys are plated in black nickel
Nickel
Nickel is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel belongs to the transition metals and is hard and ductile...
to differentiate the clarinet's appearance from those with traditional silver-colored keys. The bore has several tapers and is manufactured to tolerances of hundreds of thousandths of an inch. The right hand trill keys are above the gravity line to reduce the risk of water in the tone holes.
Discography
After his debut album with Julien Quentin, Bliss signed an exclusive recording contract with EMIEMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
's main label.
- 2002: Prom at the Palace, with various artists, EMI Classics
- 2003: Music for Clarinet and Piano, with Julien Quentin, EMI Classics
- 2007: KrommerFranz KrommerFranz Krommer was a Czech composer of classical music, whose seventy-year life began the year of the death of George Frideric Handel and ended a few years after that of Ludwig van Beethoven.-Life:The main events of his life were somewhat as follows:* From 1773 to 1776,...
Concerto for two clarinets, SpohrLouis SpohrLouis Spohr was a German composer, violinist and conductor. Born Ludewig Spohr, he is usually known by the French form of his name. Described by Dorothy Mayer as "The Forgotten Master", Spohr was once as famous as Beethoven. As a violinist, his virtuoso playing was admired by Queen Victoria...
Clarinet Concerto No. 4, with Sabine Meyer (Clarinet) and Kenneth Sillito and Academy of St. Martin in the FieldsAcademy of St. Martin in the FieldsThe Academy of St Martin in the Fields is an English chamber orchestra, based in London.Sir Neville Marriner founded the ensemble as The Academy of St.-Martin-in-the-Fields in London as a small, conductorless string group. The ensemble's name comes from Trafalgar Square's St Martin-in-the-Fields...
, EMI Classics - 2009: Best Encores 100, with various artists, EMI Classics