11102 Crossland Drive, Austin, Texas 78726  p:512-772-1774  f:501-631-3311   mdrapkin@bassclarinet.net

  Symphonic Repertoire for the Bass Clarinet
author of
  Symphonic Repertoire for the Bass Clarinet, Volume One
  Symphonic Repertoire for the Bass Clarinet, Volume Two
  Symphonic Repertoire for the Bass Clarinet, Volume Three
  Transposed Orchestra Parts for the Bass Clarinet (in development)

  The standard texts for thousands of bass clarinetists worldwide since 1979.

  Michael Drapkin Clarinet/Bass Clarinetist Michael Drapkin is known throughout the orchestral bass clarinet world through his series of orchestral excerpt books, Symphonic Repertoire for the Bass Clarinet, Volumes One, Two and the just released Volume Three. His books have become standard literature for bass clarinet orchestral study worldwide for the last 28 years, and are now referenced as a source for many bass clarinet orchestra auditions.

Michael Drapkin was a member of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra, as Associate Principal and Bass Clarinet and the New York City Opera Touring Company and Lake George Opera Festival, as Principal Clarinet. He has spent summers playing at Aspen and at Tanglewood as a Berkshire Music Center fellow, and is an active chamber musician and performer.

Michael Drapkin is a Selmer Performing Artist.
 
 
Mr. Drapkin is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music where he studied with acclaimed master clarinet teacher D. Stanley Hasty, toured Japan with the Eastman Wind Ensemble under Donald Hunsberger, and played Principal Clarinet in the Eastman Philharmonia under David Effron. He also studied clarinet with Gary Gray, Charles Bay and Harold Wright.

He has also performed with the New Jersey Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Portland Symphony, the Long Island Philharmonic, the Brooklyn Philharmonic and with conductors Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, Michael Tilson Thomas, Neville Marriner, Leonard Slatkin, Lucas Foss, Christopher Keene, Klaus Tennstedt, Frederick Fennell, and many more celebrated orchestras and maestros.

In addition to his career as a symphony orchestra clarinetist and bass clarinetist, he has published numerous books and articles spanning three fields, was Chair of eCommerce Management at Columbia University, held positions as a Chief Information Officer and leadership positions with firms ranging from startup to multinational firms and the Fortune 500. He has been commissioned to write for the New York Times, interviewed in numerous articles, and has been a frequent public speaker on subjects ranging from marketing to future trends in the economy, and has appeared on the radio on CBS Marketwatch and on television on CNBC, where he discussed the future of music on the Internet.

He the Executive Director of the Brevard Conference on Music Entrepreneurship, an organization dedicated to restructuring the fine arts world by balancing the oversupply of artists and lack of demand for their skills by teaching artists to become entrepreneurs for the arts and boosting demand.

In spite of his busy schedule, Mr. Drapkin still finds time to give back to society as a guest lecturer, soloist, and gives master classes at music schools and institutions across the country. He is a concert, jazz, orchestra and marching band music adjudicator/clinician, and a prolific arranger. His arrangement of Saint Saens' Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (published by Roncorp) was premiered with orchestra by Chicago Symphony clarinetist John Bruce Yeh, and with piano by Colorado Symphony clarinetist Bil Jackson.

Contact Michael Drapkin at mdrapkin@bassclarinet.net.


Symphonic Repertoire for the Bass Clarinet, Volume One, 2nd Edition

A scholarly compendium of difficult passages and important solos from the orchestral repertoire for the bass clarinet

  Symphonic Repertoire for the Bass Clarinet Roncorp Publications, SS, 68 pages. This book includes 36 excerpts selected from the standard symphonic literature, some more obscure works with noteworthy bass clarinet solos, and additional pieces that frequently appear on addition lists. Composers include Gershwin, Mahler, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky and more. An number of the excerpts are in bass clef and several are for bass clarinet in A.
Symphonic Repertoire for the Bass Clarinet, Volume Two

  Symphonic Repertoire for the Bass Clarinet Roncorp Publications, SS, 64 pages. This second volume includes excerpts of works by Barber, Bartok, Copland, Dvorak, Mahler, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Schoenberg, Schuman, Shostakovitch, Strauss, Stravinsky and Walton.
Symphonic Repertoire for the Bass Clarinet, Volume Three

  Symphonic Repertoire for the Bass Clarinet Roncorp Publications, SS, 64 pages. This new volume includes excerpts of works by Barber, Bartok, Bloch, Copland, Dvorak, Franck, Holst, Janacek, Mahler, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Respighi, Schoenberg, Shostakovich, Strauss, Stravinsky and Webern.
IN DEVELOPMENT: Transposed Orchestra Parts for the Bass Clarinet
A book of performance-ready bass clarinet parts transposed from A into Bb-treble clef.

Advisory Board:

-Virgil Blackwell - Noted New York City Bass Clarinet Artist
-Bill Helmers - Milwaukee Symphony
-Jim Moffitt - Honolulu Symphony
-Jim Ognibene - Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
-Edward Palanker - Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
-Harry Sparnaay - Noted Dutch Bass Clarinet Soloist
-Dave Tuttle - Noted Chicago Bass Clarinet Artist
-John Bruce Yeh - Chicago Symphony


Distributed exclusively by Northeastern Music Publications, Inc., P.O. Box 517, Glenmoore, PA 19343 1-800-455-4555


Michael Drapkin may be contacted at mdrapkin@bassclarinet.net