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Joaquin Valdepenas is considered one of the finest clarinetists before the public today. He makes international appearances as soloist, chamber musician, and conductor . He received a Grammy nomination (2007) as a member of the ARC ensemble for his recording of the Winberg clarinet sonata and won a Juno award (2004) for his recording of the Jacques Hetu clarinet concerto. Mr. Valdepeas has made over 30 recordings and the most recent "Right Through the Bone" music of Julius Roentgen, has received much critical acclaim around the world and another Grammy nomination (2008). In addition, he has recorded the Mozart clarinet concerto with the English Chamber Orchestra.
He has performed with many distinguished artists such as; Kathleen Battle, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Joshua Bell, Vladimir Feltsman, Steven Isserlis, Yo Yo Ma and Pinchas Zuckerman as well as collaborating with some of the world's finest string quartets such as the American, Calder, Emerson, Muir, Orion, Takacs, St. Lawrence, Ying and Zemlinsky. As a founding member of the Amici Chamber Ensemble he has received 4 Juno nominations and currently the "Amici" are in their 21st anniversary of their concert series at the Glenn Gould Studio.
Commissioning many works by Canadian composers, Mr. Valdepenas gave the American premire of Arias for Clarinet and Orchestra by Michael Colgrass with the Buffalo Philharmonic. His European debut, a performance with the BBC Welsh Symphony, was broadcast on BBC Television and conducted by Sir Andrew Davis. He has also made appearances with the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
In addition to his duties as principal plarinet of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra He has conducted the TSO on many occasions.
He has participated in music festivals including the Banff, Casals, Evian, Mostly Mozart in New York as well as in Nagano Japan, Marlboro, Brazil, and most recently the Great Mountain Music festival in Korea. Mr. Valdepenas has been a member of the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival and school for over 20 years.
Currently he is a member of the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto and the Glenn Gould School and is a Yamaha artist collaborating on the design of a new clarinet combining the french and german traditions in a unique voice
Joaquin is one of the very finest clarinetists in the world today and a musician of profound sensitivity and charisma. ~ Peter Oundjian |