Contact: Sherry Wallace, 309/556-3181
| The Sparnaays in Concert
at Illinois Wesleyan University
At certain moments in the history of an instrument, a single player comes along and opens a whole can of worms. Such is the case with Harry Sparnaay, the Dutch virtuoso whose astounding facility on the bass clarinet has inspired such heavyweights as Iannis Xenakis, Isang Yun, Morton Feldman and Brian Ferneyhough (along with some 400 other composers) to write works specifically for him. |
 |
BLOOMINGTON, Ill.—On Saturday, April 20 at 7:30 p.m. in Illinois Wesleyan University’s Evelyn Chapel, 1301 N. Park St., Bloomington, Harry Sparnaay and Silvia Sparnaay Castillo will perform.
Based In Amsterdam, Sparnaay is said by music critics, to be an "amazing bass clarinet virtuoso, who has expanded the possibilities of his instrument in the same sort of way that Paganini did for the violin and Jimi Hendrix for the electric guitar." Sparnaay is currently a professor of bass clarinet and contemporary music at the Conservatories of Amsterdam and Utrecht. His wife, Silvia, is an accomplished organist. Their program consists of contemporary compositions written for them by composers from around the world.
About Harry Sparnaay
Harry Sparnaay, who is said to rank among the world’s most distinguished bass clarinet performers, has been a featured performer with many major orchestras and ensembles including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony and the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, and many others. He studied at the Conservator of Amsterdam with Ru Otto and after graduating with a performer’s degree for clarinet he specialized in bass clarinet and won the first prize at the International Gaudeamus Competition—the first time ever a bass clarinetist has won this competition.
Sparnaay, who has given concerts and made radio recordings all over Europe, North and South American, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Asia performing over 500 musical works written for and dedicated to him by composers such as Claudio Ambrosini, Luciano Berio, Gerard Brophy, Helmut Lachenmann, and Iannis Xenakis. He has played solo at numerous music festivals including Warsaw, New York, Los Angeles, Madrid, Paris and Athens. Other festivals at which Sparnaay has performed include Witten, Aarhus, Middelburg, and Salzburg.
Sparnaay performed the world premiere of In Freundschaft (bass clarinet version) and Solo (bass-and contrabass clarinet version-adaptation by Barry Anderson) by Karlheinz Stockhausen and was one of the soloists in Die Verwandlung by Paul Heinz Dittrich and in the opera’s Naima by Theo Loevendie, Prometeo by Luigi Nono and A King, Riding by Klaas de Vries. He has played as soloist with the HET TRIO, which he along with flautist Harrie Starreveld and pianist Rene Eckhardt formed in 1984, or in other combinations, on more than 40 CDs. His CD with the HET TRIO with music by Ton de Leeuw,, received an Edison award.
About Silvia Sparnaay Castillo
Silvia Castillo was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She studied piano, oboe and organ at the Manuel de Falla conservatory, and continued her studies with Mario Videla, Hector Zeoli and J.G. Segade. Castillo also followed masterclasses in Argentina with foreign specialists like Wiltrud Fuchs, Kamiel d’Hooghe, Monterrat Torrent, Marylin Mason, Renzo Buja and in Paris with Odile Pierre.
As a soloist, Castillo has performed concerts with the LRA Radio Nacional Orchestra under the direction of Ljerko Spiller and the Symphony Orchestra of Rosario under the direction of Juan Carlos Zorzi. She also has studied viola with Tomas Tichauer and harpsichord with Monica Kosachov.
Castillo, who has given concerts in Holland, Austria, Mexico, Poland, Ireland, Slowakia and Argentina, has received three scholarships from the University of San Juan and in 1986 she received an honorable mention during the first National Organ competition.