Admired for his “suppleness and beauty of tone” (Allan Kozinn, Portland Press Herald) Bixby Kennedy is one of the most versatile clarinetists of his generation. He has performed concerti with the Minnesota Orchestra, Houston Symphony, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Bloomington Sinfonietta, and Indiana University Symphony. As a chamber musician, Bixby has performed throughout the US and Europe in venues including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, The Kennedy Center, Marlboro Music Festival, Music from Angel Fire, and Caramoor. He is the clarinetist for the “explosive” New York City based chamber ensemble Frisson. As an orchestral musician, Bixby currently holds titles as the Associate Principal Clarinetist of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and Albany Symphony, and is the Principal Clarinetist of Symphony in C. He has appeared as a guest artist with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. He is a former member of Ensemble Connect and works as a teaching artist throughout New York City. He loves traveling, trying new foods, laughing, hiking, and playing tennis.
Allan Blank was born in New York in 1925. His early musical training was on the violin. He attended the High School of Music & Art where an interest in conducting and composition was fostered. Further studies were at the Juilliard School of Music (1945-1947), Washington Square College (BA, 1948), University of Minnesota (MA,1950) and the University of Iowa. He was a violinist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (1950-1952) and has taught at a number of schools and universities before retiring as a professor of composition at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA. He died in November 2013 in Richmond.
Six Miniatures for B-Flat Clarinet - Allan Blank
Recorded at home in Macon, GA, June 2020
Bixby Kennedy, clarinet
Mastered by Bixby Kennedy
Property of Shelter Recording Project, American Composers Alliance
