Acclaimed Clarinetist and Pianist/Composer to Give Master Classes, Concert Nov. 9

The University of Tampa will welcome clarinetist Michael Norsworthy and pianist and composer David Gompper on Monday, Nov. 9, to conduct master classes and give a performance.

At 4 p.m., Norsworthy will conduct a master class for UT woodwind students in the Sykes Chapel and Center for Faith and Values, discussing contemporary performance techniques for the clarinet. Gompper will give a composition master class for UT student composers in the Ferman Music Center’s Orchestra Room (Room 90) at 4:15 p.m. The public and media are invited to observe the master classes.

The concert, which begins at 7:30 p.m. in the chapel, will feature contemporary works for clarinet and piano. The program includes SchiZm by Derek Bermel, Charme by Gérard Grisley, Traceur by David Gompper, Black Anemones by Joseph Schwantner and Souvenirs by Robert Beaser. The concert is free and open to the public.

Norsworthy has performed as a soloist with numerous orchestras around the U.S. and abroad and as a recitalist and chamber music performer. A champion of modern repertoire, he has premiered more than 100 new works at venues including Carnegie Hall, Vienna's Musikverein, Moscow's Tchaikovsky Hall, The Casals Festival and the Aspen Festival. He is principal clarinet with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and on the artist faculty at The Boston Conservatory.

Gompper has lived and worked professionally as a pianist, conductor and composer in New York, San Diego, London, Nigeria, Michigan, Texas and Iowa. Since 1991, he has been professor of composition and director of the Center for New Music at the University of Iowa. In 2002-2003, Gompper was in Russia as a Fulbright Scholar, teaching, performing and conducting at the Moscow Conservatory. He received an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York City in 2009, and a Fromm commission in 2013.

For more information, contact Stas Omelchenko, artist associate faculty in the music technology and composition program, at somelchenko@ut.edu.