Shirley Brill (; born 1982) is an Israeli

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

ist living in Germany.

Education and career

Born in

Petah Tikva Petah Tikva (, ), also spelt Petah Tiqwa and known informally as Em HaMoshavot (), is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv. It was founded in 1878, mainly by Haredi Judaism, Haredi Jews of the Old Y ...

, Israel, Brill received her musical education in Israel from Yitzhak Katzap at the Petah Tikva Conservatory. From the year 2000, she continued her studies in Germany with

Sabine Meyer Sabine Meyer (born 30 March 1959) is a German classical clarinetist. Biography Born in Crailsheim, Baden-Württemberg, Meyer began playing the clarinet at an early age. Her first teacher was her father, also a clarinetist. She studied with Otto ...

at the

Musikhochschule Lübeck A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger in ...

, as well as in the United States with

Richard Stoltzman Richard Leslie Stoltzman (born July 12, 1942) is an American clarinetist. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, he spent his early years in San Francisco, California, and Cincinnati, Ohio, graduating from Woodward High School in 1960. Today, Stoltzman is pa ...

at the

New England Conservatory of Music The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a Private college, private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. The conservatory is located on Huntington Avenue along Avenue of the Arts (Boston), the Avenue of the Arts near Boston Symphony Ha ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. At the age of 16, she began her solo career with the

Israel Philharmonic Orchestra The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (abbreviation IPO; Hebrew: התזמורת הפילהרמונית הישראלית, ''ha-Tizmoret ha-Filharmonit ha-Yisra'elit'') is a major Israeli symphony orchestra based in Tel Aviv. Its principal concert ...

under the direction of

Zubin Mehta Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor :wikt:emeritus, emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mehta's father ...

. Since then she has appeared with a large number of international orchestras, such as the

Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO) is a German broadcast orchestra based in Berlin. The orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families ...

in the Great Hall of the

Berlin Philharmonie The () is a concert hall in Berlin, Germany, and home to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The Philharmonie lies on the south edge of the city's Tiergarten and just west of the former Berlin Wall. The Philharmonie is on Herbert-von-Karajan- ...

, and collaborated with the

Hamburg Symphony Orchestra The Symphoniker Hamburg (''Hamburg Symphony Orchestra'') is a German orchestra based in Hamburg, Germany. Founded in 1957, it is one of the city's three largest orchestras. The Hamburg Symphony Orchestra is the orchestra in residence in the Lae ...

, the Geneva Chamber Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of the National Theater of Prague, the

Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra The Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra () is a Polish radio orchestra founded in 1945 in Warsaw by Stefan Rachoń. Initially, the orchestra made records only for Polish radio and television. In 1970, the orchestra began to tour and release record ...

, the

Munich Symphony Orchestra The Munich Symphony Orchestra (Münchner Symphoniker) is a German orchestra based in Munich. The orchestra gives subscription concerts at the Herkulessaal and the Prinzregententheater and, to a lesser degree, at the Philharmonie am Gasteig, a ...

and the New Philharmonic of Westphalia. Brill has worked with leading conductors such as

Daniel Barenboim Daniel Moses Barenboim (; born 15 November 1942) is an Argentines, Argentine-Israeli classical pianist and conductor based in Berlin, who also has Spain, Spanish and State of Palestine, Palestinian citizenship. From 1992 until January 2023, Bare ...

Jeffrey Tate Sir Jeffrey Philip Tate (28 April 19432 June 2017) was an English conductor of classical music. Tate was born with spina bifida and had an associated spinal curvature. After studying medicine at the University of Cambridge and beginning a me ...

and

Patrick Lange Patrick Lange (; 25 August 1986) is a professional duathlete and triathlete from Germany. He is a three time Ironman World Champion, setting course records in 2017, 2018 and 2024. Lange is also the 2010–2013 German champion in duathlon and ...

among others. She has been invited to international festivals such as the

BBC Proms The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...

, the Festival of Radio France and

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (, , ; ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately . History ...

Roussillon Roussillon ( , , ; , ; ) was a historical province of France that largely corresponded to the County of Roussillon and French Cerdagne, part of the County of Cerdagne of the former Principality of Catalonia. It is part of the region of ' ...

, the Schubertiade in Austria, the Festival of

Davos Davos (, ; or ; ; Old ) is an Alpine resort town and municipality in the Prättigau/Davos Region in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of (). Davos is located on the river Landwasser, in the Rhaetian ...

(Switzerland),

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

(Slovenia), the

Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival The Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival (SHMF) is a classical music festival held each summer throughout the state of Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany. History The festival was founded in 1986 by German concert pianist and conductor Justus Fr ...

, the Mecklenburg Vorpommern Festival , the

Heidelberger Frühling The Heidelberger Frühling was founded in 1997 as a classical music festival and has since developed into a year-round cultural institution that conceives and organises festivals, concert series and conferences with internationally established pe ...

, the

Rheingau Musik Festival The (RMF) is an international summer music festival in Germany, founded in 1987. It is mostly for classical music, but includes other genres. Concerts take place at culturally important locations, such as Eberbach Abbey and Schloss Johannisberg, ...

, and the

Spannungen Spannungen ("Tensions" or "Voltages") is an annual summer festival for chamber music in Heimbach, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, founded by pianist Lars Vogt in 1998. It is subtitled Musik im Kraftwerk Heimbach (Music in the Heimbach power pla ...

chamber music festival. Her chamber music partners include Daniel Barenboim,

Janine Jansen Janine Jansen (born ) is a Dutch violinist and violist. Early life and education Jansen was born in Soest in the Netherlands into a musical family. Her father plays organ, harpsichord and piano; from 1987 to mid-2011 he was the organist of ...

, Sabine Meyer,

Emmanuel Pahud Emmanuel Pahud (born 27 January 1970) is a Franco-Swiss flautist. He was born in Geneva, Switzerland. His father is of French and Swiss background and his mother is French. The Berlin-based flutistPatrick LamEmmanuel Pahud – The showcase behi ...

Tabea Zimmermann Tabea Zimmermann (born 8 October 1966) is a German violist who has performed internationally, both as a soloist and a chamber musician. She has been artist in residence of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, and the Bavarian ...

, the Fauré Piano Quartet and the Quatuor Terpsycordes. Since 2009, Brill has been the principal clarinetist of the

West–Eastern Divan Orchestra The West–Eastern Divan Orchestra is based in Seville, Spain, and consists of musicians from countries across the Spanish world and the Middle East—of Egyptian, Iranian, Israeli, Jordanian, Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian, and Hispanic bac ...

conducted by Daniel Barenboim. From 2012 Shirley Brill was a guest professor at the

Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" ' (, plural: ') is the generic term in German for institutions of higher education, corresponding to ''universities'' and ''colleges'' in English. The term ''Universität'' (plural: ''Universitäten'') is reserved for institutions with the right to ...

in Berlin and since 2016 a faculty member at the

Barenboim–Said Akademie The Barenboim–Said Akademie (, , ) is an academy located in Berlin, Germany, offering bachelor's degrees and Artist Diploma certificates in music; it opened on 8 December 2016. It was co-founded by the conductor and pianist Daniel Barenb ...

. Since October 2018, Brill has been appointed Professor of Clarinet at the

Hochschule für Musik Saar The Hochschule für Musik Saar is a conservatory of music in Saarbrücken, Germany and dates back to 1947. From 1994 until 2002, it was named ''Hochschule des Saarlandes für Musik und Theater'' (University of Music and Drama Saarbrücken). Since ...

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...

, Germany.

Personal life

Brill is married to Jonathan Aner, Israeli pianist, professor of chamber music in Berlin and her partner in the Duo Brillaner. They have 3 daughters, and live in Berlin.

Instruments

Shirley Brill plays on clarinets with French fingering system (Boehm), individually made for her by the manufacturer

Schwenk & Seggelke Seggelke Klarinetten (GmbH & Co. KG), is a German clarinet manufacturer based in Bamberg in the Bavarian Upper Franconia. The company manufactures clarinets of a variety of fingering systems. A specialty of the company is the reproduction o ...

. She has normal clarinets in B and A made of

grenadilla ''Dalbergia melanoxylon'' (African blackwood, grenadilla, or mpingo) in French ''Granadille d'Afrique'' is a flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, native to seasonally dry regions of Africa from Senegal east to Eritrea, to southern regions of ...

mopane ''Colophospermum mopane'', commonly called mopane, mopani, butterfly tree, turpentine tree, or balsam tree, is a tree in the legume family (Fabaceae), that grows in hot, dry, low-lying areas, in elevation, in parts of Southern Africa. The tree ...

(see the photo) and

boxwood ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box and boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost So ...

and a

basset clarinet The basset clarinet is member of the clarinet family similar to the usual soprano clarinet but longer and with additional keys to enable playing several additional lower notes. Typically a basset clarinet has keywork going to a low (written) C o ...

in A made of boxwood.

Awards

* 2003: Special prize of the

ARD International Music Competition The ARD International Music Competition () is the largest international classical music competition in Germany. It is organised by the Bayerischer Rundfunk and is held once a year in Munich, usually in September. Since its inception in 1952, it h ...

* 2003: 1st Prize for Duo Brillaner at the 40th Possehl Music Competition * 2006: 2nd Prize International Clarinet Competition

Markneukirchen Markneukirchen () is a town in the Vogtlandkreis district, in Saxony, Germany, close to the Czech Republic, Czech border. It lies in the Elster Mountains (part of the Fichtel Mountains), southeast of Plauen, and northeast of Aš (Czech Republic) ...

(1st prize not awarded) * 2007: 2nd Prize Concours de

Genève Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the capital of the Republic and Ca ...

(1st prize not awarded) * 2010: Shirley Brill, on behalf of the

founded by

, receives the Prize of the

Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire ...

Discography

2005: Duo Brillaner Debut (at MHL) with Jonathan Aner, including: * Carl Maria von Weber: Grand Duo Concertant Op. 48; * Camille Saint-Saëns: Sonata Op. 167; * Paul Ben-Haim: Pastorale Variée; * Krysztof Penderecki: 3 Miniatures; * Francis Poulenc: Sonata 2008: Weber & Baermann (at Pan Classics), with the Terpsycordes Quartet, the Geneva Chamber Orchestra and Patrick Lange, including: * Carl Maria von Weber: Clarinet Concerto in F minor, Op. 73 No. 1; * Heinrich Baermann: Quintet for clarinet and strings in E flat major, Op. 23, * Carl Maria von Weber: Quintet for clarinet and strings in B flat major, Op. 34 2009: Petite Pièce: French Miniatures for Clarinet and Piano (at Pan Classics) with Jonathan Aner, including: * Gabriel Pierné: Sérénade, Andante con Eleganza, Pièce and Canzonetta * Eugène Bozza: Fantasie Italienne, Idyll, Aria and Claribel * Philippe Gaubert: Fantaisie, Romance, Allegretto * Germaine Tailleferre: Trois Danses de la Nouvelle Cythère (Pavane, Nocturne, Galop) and Arabesque * Claude Debussy: Petite Pièce and Prèmiere Rhapsodie 2012: Françaix & Prokofiev (at Pan Classics) with the Romanian National Radio Orchestra and Adrian Morar, including: * Jean Françaix: Concerto for clarinet and orchestra * Sergei Prokofiev: Sonata Op. 94, (arrangement for clarinet and orchestra by Kent Kennan) * Jean Françaix: Tema con Variazioni 2017: Brahms & Janáček Sonatas (at hänssler Classic) with Jonathan Aner, including: *Johannes Brahms, Sonatas for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 120 Nr. 1 and Nr. 2 *Leoš Janáček, Sonata for Clarinet and Piano The artist is represented on YouTube with audio and video recordings, with audio recordings on Spotify and Deezer.

References