MICHAEL
WEBSTER
Professor of Clarinet
 |
B.
Mus. with distinction (1966)
Performer's Certificate (1966), M. Mus. (1967)
D.M.A. (1975) Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester
1115 Alice Pratt Brown Hall
713-348-3602
mwebster@rice.edu
|
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~mwebster/
MICHAEL WEBSTER is Professor of Clarinet at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music and Artistic
Director of the Houston Youth Symphony. Described by the Boston
Globe as "a virtuoso of burgeoning prominence," he has
collaborated with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the
Tokyo and Cleveland String Quartets, and Yo-Yo Ma, among others.
He has been associated with many of North America's finest festivals,
including Marlboro, Santa Fe, Chamber Music West and Northwest,
Norfolk, Angel Fire, Steamboat Springs, Sitka, Park City, Aria International
Academy (Ontario), Stratford (Ontario), Victoria (BC), and Domaine
Forget (Quebec).
 |
Webster's recital career began at Town Hall in 1968 with his renowned
father, Beveridge Webster, as pianist. That same year he won Young
Concert Artists' International Competition and became Principal
Clarinetist of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Since then
he has performed in all of New York City's major halls, across the
United States, and in Canada, South America, Japan, and New Zealand.
He has appeared as guest artist at the 92nd Street "Y",
with the Muir, Ying, Leontóvych, and Chester String Quartets,
and with Da Camera of Houston and Context. High Fidelity/Musical
America placed his CRI recording of American clarinet music on its
Best Recordings list and Artists International selected him for
its Distinguished Artist Award.
Webster has served as Principal Clarinetist of the San Francisco
Symphony, Music Director of the Society for Chamber Music in Rochester,
Music Director of Chamber Music Ann Arbor, and Associate Professor
of Clarinet at the Eastman School of Music, from which he earned
three degrees. In 1988 he became a member of the conducting faculty
at the New England Conservatory and taught clarinet both there and
at Boston University. He was Music Director of the Wellesley Symphony
Orchestra and guest conducted several Boston-area orchestras before
joining the University of Michigan faculty as Adjunct Professor
of Conducting and Director of the Michigan Youth Symphony Orchestra
in 1993. He has been Assistant Conductor of the Asian Youth Orchestra
under Yehudi Menuhin, and has conducted chamber orchestras composed
of Boston Pops, Rochester Philharmonic, and Quebec Symphony musicians.
With his wife, Leone Buyse, he plays in the Webster Trio, an ensemble
dedicated to promoting and expanding the repertoire for flute, clarinet,
and piano. The Trio's first CD, Tour de France, with pianist Katherine
Collier, was released in May, 1997 by Crystal Records. In Japan
he and Ms. Buyse perform with pianist Chizuko Sawa in the Webster
Trio Japan; its first CD, Sonata Cho-Cho San, has been released
on the Nami label in Japan. Both discs feature Webster's trio arrangements
which, along with his original compositions, are published by G.
Schirmer and International Music Company. Highly regarded as a pedagogue,
he is a member of the editorial staff of The Clarinet magazine,
contributing a regular column entitled "Teaching Beginners." |
