Larry Combs (born December 31, 1939) is an American

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 and educator.

Early life and education

Combs was born in

South Charleston, West Virginia South Charleston is a city in Kanawha County, West Virginia, United States. It is located to the west of the state capital of Charleston. The population was 13,639 at the 2020 census. It was established in 1906, but not incorporated until 1917. ...

. He received a bachelor of music degree with distinction as well as the Performer's Certificate in 1961 from the

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. Established in 1921 by celebrated industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman, it was the ...

where he studied with

Stanley Hasty Donald Stanley Hasty (February 21, 1920 - June 22, 2011) was professor emeritus of clarinet at the Eastman School of Music. Hasty joined the Eastman faculty and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in 1955. Before coming to Rochester, he served as ...

. He later studied with Leon Russianoff in New York from 1962-1965.

Career

Combs played

with the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra, the

Montreal Symphony Orchestra The Montreal Symphony Orchestra () is a Canadian symphony orchestra based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The orchestra’s home is the Montreal Symphony House at Place des Arts. History Several orchestras were precursor ensembles to the curren ...

, and the

Santa Fe Opera Santa Fe Opera (SFO) is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. After creating the ''Opera Association of New Mexico'' in 1956, its founding director, John Crosby (conductor), John Crosby, oversaw the building of the f ...

before joining the

Chicago Symphony Orchestra The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891, the ensemble has been based in the Symphony Center since 1904 and plays a summer season at the Ravinia F ...

in 1974. He was appointed principal clarinet of the CSO by Sir

Georg Solti Sir Georg Solti ( , ; born György Stern; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt, and London, and as a long-servi ...

in 1978. He has appeared as a soloist with the orchestra on many occasions. He retired from the CSO following the 2007–2008 season to spend more time teaching clarinet students at

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...

. He retired from DePaul in 2018. He is also a founding member of the Chicago Chamber Musicians in 1986. He has performed the

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, often set within studied ye ...

Clarinet Trio with

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 ...

and cellist

Yo-Yo Ma Yo-Yo Ma (born October 7, 1955) is a French-born American Cello, cellist. Born to Chinese people, Chinese parents in Paris, he was regarded as a child prodigy there and began to study the cello with his father at age four. At the age of seven, ...

, and has appeared at the

Ravinia Festival Ravinia Festival is a primarily outdoor music venue in Highland Park, Illinois. It hosts a series of outdoor concerts and performances every summer from June to September in a wide variety of musical genres from classical to pop. The first orche ...

with its music director,

Christoph Eschenbach Christoph Eschenbach (; born 20 February 1940) is a German pianist and conductor. Early life Eschenbach was born on 20 February 1940 in Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland) as Christoph Ringmann. His parents were Margarethe (née Jaross), a ...

. Other appearances have been with

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

and the Smithsonian Chamber Players. + He is also a founding member of the Chicago Chamber Musicians. Combs is also a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

aficionado. His Combs-Novak Sextet is one of the headliners at the 1999

Chicago Jazz Festival The Chicago Jazz Festival is an admission-free, four-day annual jazz festival in Chicago's Millennium Park. It is run by the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and programmed with the assistance of Jazz Institute of Chicago during ...

; he cut an album with jazz

clarinetist The clarinet is a single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches. The clarinet family is the largest woodw ...

Eddie Daniels Eddie Daniels (born October 19, 1941) is an American musician and composer. Although he is best known as a jazz clarinetist, he has also played saxophone and flute as well as classical music on clarinet. Early life, family and education Daniel ...

, called "Crossing the Line"; and the

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. The ''Reader'' has been ...

's Ted Shen wrote that he is "a Benny Goodman-like chameleon who can execute breathtaking arabesques and add a touch of eloquence to the plainest phrase." He was a clinician for the G. Leblanc Company, which made the Opus II clarinets he helped to design, and the Larry Combs models of clarinet mouthpieces.

Personal life

Combs is married to Gail Williams, a

horn Horn may refer to: Common uses * Horn (acoustic), a tapered sound guide ** Horn antenna ** Horn loudspeaker ** Vehicle horn ** Train horn *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various animals * Horn (instrument), a family ...

professor at Northwestern University and retired associate principal horn of the Chicago Symphony.

Awards and recognition

Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance The Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

and

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

Quintets, Chicago-Berlin Chamber Ensemble with Daniel Barenboim,

Dale Clevenger Dale Clevenger (July 2, 1940 – January 5, 2022) was an American musician who was the Principal Horn of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1966 until his retirement in June, 2013.

, Larry Combs, Daniele Damiano, and Hansjorg Schellenberger (

Erato Records Erato Records is a record label founded in 1953 as Erato Disques S.A. by Philippe Loury to promote French classical music. Loury was head of éditions musicales Costallat. His first releases in France were licensed from the Haydn Society of Bo ...

)

Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra) The Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra) was awarded from 1959 to 2011. From 1967 to 1971, and in 1987, the award was combined with the award for Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without o ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...

's Duet-Concertino for Clarinet and Bassoon with David McGill; Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Daniel Barenboim, conductor (

Teldec Teldec (Telefunken-Decca Schallplatten GmbH) is a German record label in Hamburg, Germany. Today the label is a property of Warner Music Group. History Teldec was a producer of (first) shellac and (later) vinyl records. The Teldec manufacturing ...

)

Discography

*"The Jazz Brothers", Riverside, 1960 (alto sax in the Mangione Brothers Sextet) *"Crossing the Line" with

*"Mozart: Music for Bassett Horns",

CBS Masterworks Sony Classical is an American record label founded in 1924 as Columbia Masterworks Records, a subsidiary of Columbia Records. In 1980, the Columbia Masterworks label was renamed as CBS Masterworks Records. The CBS Records Group was acquired by ...

, 1986 (Grammy nominated album) *" Chicago Chamber Musicians at 15" * Chicago Chamber Musicians *"Larry Combs, Clarinet", Music of Rozsa, Rochberg, and

Schuller Schuller (or Schüller) is the surname of: * Bobby Schuller (born 1981), televangelist, son of Robert A. * Ed Schuller (born 1955), musician * Eugène Schueller (1881–1957), founder of L'Oréal * George Schuller (born 1958), musician * Gunther ...

, 2005 *"Orchestral Excerpts for Clarinet", 1994 *"Brahms, Scriabin, Prokofieff for Clarinet", 1995 *"The American Clarinet", Music of Bernstein, Copland, Gershwin, and Gould, 1995

References

External links

Chicago Symphony Orchestra official web siteWeb site of the Chicago Chamber Musicians
{{DEFAULTSORT:Combs, Larry American classical clarinetists American jazz clarinetists Grammy Award winners Musicians from West Virginia Living people DePaul University people 21st-century American clarinetists Summit Records artists 1939 births Players of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Players of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra