J. Lawrie Bloom has been heard in chamber, orchestral and
concerto appearances on soprano, basset and bass clarinets. He began studying
piano at the age of 4 and switched to clarinet at 9. He continued studies at
the Columbus Boychoir School, and at that time came under the clarinet guidance
of Roger McKinney. He later studied with Anthony Gigliotti.
Founder and artistic
co-director of the Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival and the Chesapeake Chamber
Music Competition, Bloom frequently performs on the Northwestern University
Winter Chamber Festival and both the Chicago Symphony Orchestra chamber
and MusicNOW series. During the 2011/12 season he presented
two U.S. premieres of works of Thea Musgrave, first her Autumn Sonata, a
bass clarinet concerto, with the CSO, with Suzanna Målkki conducting, then at
the Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival he performed her "mini clarinet
concerto" Towards the Blue.
Bloom is a founding member of the Chicago based chamber
group the Civitas Ensemble. He has performed at the Ambler, Grand Teton,
Ravinia, Skaneateles, Spoleto and Mostly Mozart festivals. He toured with the
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and he has collaborated with the Chester, Chicago
Symphony and Mendelssohn string quartets; the Chicago Chamber Musicians; and
members of the Ridge, Orion and Vermeer string quartets. He often has been
heard live on WFMT and the Australian Broadcasting Company.
In 1980, Sir Georg Solti invited Bloom to join the CSO on
clarinet and solo bass clarinet. He previously held similar appointments with
the Phoenix Symphony, the orchestra of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Vancouver
Symphony and Cincinnati Symphony.
Bloom is a senior lecturer in clarinet at Northwestern
University. He has presented master classes all over the world, and he also is
an artist performer for clarinet makers Buffet Group USA and the reed company
RICO International.
September 2012
