Clarinet

Clarinetist Michele Zukovsky recently retired from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, an orchestra she joined at the age of eighteen. Zukovsky has appeared many times as a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, at the Hollywood Bowl, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and the Walt Disney Concert Hall. She has been a guest soloist with many orchestras around the world, including the world premier performance of John Williams’ Clarinet Concerto with the Boston Pops. Zukovsky also performed regularly as a member of the L.A. Philharmonic’s Chamber Music concerts and as a member of the orchestra’s New Music Group. She is active as a teacher of master classes throughout the world and she is currently on the faculty of the USC Thornton School of Music and the Pasadena Conservatory of Music. She studied with her father, Kalman Bloch, himself a former principal with the L.A. Philharmonic. Zukovsky has collaborated with numerous chamber ensembles, most notably the Angeles and St. Petersburg String Quartets and has appeared frequently at the 92nd Street Y’s “Concerts at the Y”, as well as at Ravinia, Lincoln Center, Mostly Mozart, Lockenhaus, Schlieswig-Holstein, and Marlboro festivals. She has recorded for London/Decca, Avant, Nonesuch, Phillips, and Summit Records. Her recent Summit recordings include works by Martinu and transcriptions of pieces by Simeon Bellison, the former clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic.