Sean Osborn
Affiliation: Metropolitan Opera, University of Washington, International Soloist
Artist's Biography
Praised as ...an excellent clarinettist, by The New York Times, Sean Osborn, former clarinetist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, has performed on four continents since his recital debut at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts at the age of 17. His performance of Nieslen\'s Clarinet Concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra was especially admired for the beautifully inflected phrases\" by the critics of The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Gramophone Magazine called him a master clarinetist.
Appointed over nearly 300 other applicants to a position with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in 1989, Mr. Osborn was the youngest clarinetist in the history of the Met. He has also performed as Guest Principal Clarinet with the New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Seattle Symphony, and the American Symphony Orchestra. During his orchestral career, he has been singled out for praise of his \"bravura technique\" (Oggi) and his \"slenderly eloquent\" solos (Village Voice). In solo performances, he has been praised for his \"ability to describe attractively shaped musical arcs with his fluid tone\", and \"demonstrate[ing] the effortlessness of his technique in a performance of Francaix\'s pyrotechnical Concerto.\"
Touring the country extensively, Mr. Osborn has performed live and in recital on many radio stations, and nationally on NPR\'s Performance Today. Sean is a top prize winner in both the ARTS Competition and the International Clarinet Society Competition, and in 1984 was named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts. He has also participated in the Marlboro, Colorado, Aspen and Keystone music festivals, and recorded for Sony Classics, London, Deutsche Grammaphon, CRI, and others. His new solo CD American Spirit was released in December, 2003 on Albany Records.
A student of Stanley Hasty at the Eastman School of Music, Mr. Osborn is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and the Interlochen Arts Academy where he received its highest honor: The Young Artists Certificate. He also received a Masters Degree from Southern Illinois University where he studied with Dr. Eric Mandat. Mr. Osborn has given numerous master classes throughout the country at schools such as The Eastman School of Music, The Manhattan School of Music, Rice University, and The New World School of the Arts. He has also recently been appointed clarinet teacher at the University of Washington.
A frequent chamber musician, Mr. Osborn has collaborated with James Levine, Donald Weilerstien, Richard Stoltzman, the St. Lawrance String Quartet, and members of the Colorado String Quartet, and Tokyo String Quartet as well as members of the orchestras of New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles and many others.
Mr. Osborn is also a composer who\'s works have been performed by members of the Marlboro Music Festival, the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, the American Saxophone Quartet, and the faculty of the Juilliard School, to name a few. He is the recipient of an ASCAP award, his Symphony #1 September 11th received an Accomplished Musician award from the Ibla Foundation, and his Quartet for four Bb clarinets, called delectable by The Clarinet, is published by Presser Music.
Artist's Influences
Stanley Hasty, Eric Mandat, The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Opera, New Music, Chamber Music
