Delaware Clarinet Day (CANCELLED)

CANCELLED

The 7th Annual Delaware Clarinet Day is scheduled for Saturday, April 18, 2020, and features Friedrich Pfatschbacher, Birgit Pfatschbacher and Wesley Rice, along with UD's own Christopher Nichols and the Clarinet Ensemble.

Activities for the day will include concerts, master classes, exhibits and performing activities.

Delaware Clarinet Day 2020 Schedule (CANCELLED)

All events in Puglisi Orchestra Hall unless otherwise indicated

8:30 a.m. – Registration and Vendor Time
9:30 a.m. – Festival Choir Rehearsal
10:30 a.m. – Friedrich Pfatschbacher Lecture – The Clarinet Choir
11:30 a.m. – Lunch
12:30 p.m. – Featured Artist Recital: Friedrich Pfatschbacher, Birgit Pfatschbacher, Christopher Nichols and the UD Clarinet Ensemble – Gore Recital Hall
2:00 p.m. – Festival Choir Rehearsal
3:00 p.m. – Wesley Rice Clinic – Instrument Maintenance
4:00 p.m. – Closing Festival Choir Concert

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Friedrich K. Pfatschbacher is a musician with specific interests in performance, education and lecturing, as well as clarinet choir workshops. He studied clarinet under Professor Alfred Rosé (Vienna Symphony Orchestra) at the Graz College of Music, with Postgraduate Studies (1999-2004)  in Musicology  with University Professor Dr. Wolfgang Suppan at the Graz University, where he received the Doctor of Philosophy.

Dr. Pfatschbacher has served as a clarinet soloist with the Wind Band Donawitz/Styria since 2003, and he is director of music and teacher for clarinet at the Mautern Music School. In 2002, he participated at the National Competition for Wind and Percussion Ensembles with excellent success. He has performed regularly as a soloist and in chamber ensembles.

Dr. Pfatschbacher is active in several professional organizations and ensembles, including  founder of the clarinet ensemble Woodwind, and, since 2006, founder and president of the Austrian Clarinet Society. Since 2007 he has been chief conductor of the Austrian Clarinet Choir. He is the continental chair of Europe and Austria´s National Chairperson for the International Clarinet Association (I.C.A.) for whom he regularly plays with his ensembles Austrian Clarinet Choir and Austrian Clarinets (quintet), featuring voice at the I.C.A. Clarinet festivals in Europe and in the United State

In 2013 he was appointed professor from the president of Austria. Since 2013, he gives lectures, clarinet choir workshops and master classes at home and abroad (Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, United States, Mexico, South America and South Africa).

Dr. Birgit Pfatschbacher studied piano, accordion, guitar and recorder at various music schools in Austria. She studied vocals, choral direction and voice training at the State Conservatory Klagenfurt and at the University College of Teacher Education/Viktor-Frankl-Hochschule and University of Graz, where she received a Ph.D.

She has been a choir master in excess of 20 years of ensembles and large choirs in Carinthia/Austria and has overseen several recordings with choirs. She conducts children’s choirs and music ensembles in elementary schools and has performed many children’s musicals.

She regularly performs as a vocal soloist in choirs or with the Austrian Clarinet Choir and Austrian Clarinets at home and abroad (I.C.A. Clarinet festivals). Furthermore, she is moderator of concerts (Austrian clarinet Choir, Austrian Clarinets), vernissages and readings.

Wesley Rice is the owner and founder of Rice Clarinet Works—a company that specializes in clarinet repair and restoration, as well as the manufacture of various clarinet-related products. A clarinet player himself, Wesley has used his performance background to bring more than 1000 clarinets to artist-level playability over his career. After working with a renowned machinist for a short period, Wesley was able to take the knowledge he had gained and pursue manufacturing and design. Through the acquisition of many pieces of equipment—both computer controlled and manually operated, he has been able to manufacture almost every part of the clarinet. Over the past several years, Wesley has been producing custom lines of products such as CNC-manufactured mouthpieces, barrels, bells, ligatures, tuning rings, and even a reed machine for some of the biggest names in the clarinet-product industry.

Christopher Nichols joined the faculty of the University of Delaware as assistant professor of clarinet in 2013 where he instructs undergraduate and graduate applied clarinet, clarinet ensemble, chamber music, pedagogy and literature, and annually hosts Delaware Clarinet Day. As an artist clinician, Dr. Nichols has recently appeared at Rutgers University, the Crane School of Music at SUNY-Potsdam, the University of Maryland and the University of Southern Mississippi. Dedicated to the cultivation of clarinetists of all ages, Dr. Nichols has served on the faculty of the Delaware Governor’s School of Excellence and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, Michigan, and maintains a private studio. Dr. Nichols’ students have found success in competitions, won positions in military bands and serve as music educators.

As an endorsing artist for Légère Reeds, Rice Clarinet Works, Silverstein Works and Buffet Crampon USA, Dr. Nichols performs exclusively on Légère Signature Series reeds, RCW Barrels, Silverstein Ligatures and Buffet clarinets. Additional information is available at his website: www.christophernicholsclarinet.com