Lawrence Sobol

Lawrence Sobol, clarinetist, educator and author, has been hailed by The New York Times as “an intrepid musical explorer.” The winner of a Ford Foundation grant (1964-1965) to study at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, he later received degrees from the Manhattan School of Music. Mr. Sobol studied clarinet with Harold Wright, Ignatius Gennusa, David Weber, Herbert Blayman and Rudolph Jettel.

He has performed extensively throughout America and Europe as soloist with orchestra, in recital and in chamber music programs. For over four decades Mr. Sobol has recorded and collaborated with America’s leading composers, including Virgil Thomson, David Diamond, Roy Harris, Karel Husa, Ned Rorem, Michael Colgrass, William Schuman, Alan Hovhaness and Ezra Laderman, among others. Alan Hovhaness has said, “Lawrence Sobol is not only an outstanding artist on the clarinet, but also a remarkable musician … He has great vitality and profound expressiveness.”

Mr. Sobol has recorded for New World Records, Citadel, Klavier, Crystal, Kem West, Sine Qua Non, Poseidon, Grenadilla, Orion, Peters International Records and Elysium Recordings. His many recordings are heard worldwide, and he has produced more than 300 concerts including productions featuring Ornette Coleman and The Prime Time Band, Jessye Norman, and performances and recordings with Richie Havens, Luciano Pavarotti, Judith Raskin, William Warfield and Richard Tucker. In 2001 Mr. Sobol received the VH-1/MTV Lifetime Achievement Award and has recently recorded Monochrome III by Peter Schickele along with Stanley and Naomi Drucker.

Mr. Sobol’s commitment to music education has been long standing. He has taught at the Smithtown (NY) Schools, and has served as Associate Professor of Clarinet at the Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College, CUNY and SUNY at Purchase. He has also lectured and performed at many of America’s leading colleges and universities including Purdue University, Peabody Conservatory, Cornell University, SUNY Potsdam and the University of Miami. Presently Mr. Sobol is active as a clinician and consultant, and mentors clarinetists in his Huntington, New York studio.

Veteran New York Times critic Theodore Strongin summed up Mr. Sobol’s artistry: “Sobol’s technique doesn’t need mentioning, so smooth and effortless is his playing. What stands out with him is the extremely minute, concentrated and sensitive nature of his musical thought. You can almost touch it, it’s so strong.”