Among the most distinguished classical artists of his generation, clarinetist JON MANASSE is internationally recognized for his inspiring artistry, uniquely glorious sound and charismatic performing style.
     Jon Manasse's recent solo appearances include New York City performances at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts' Alice Tully Hall, Hunter College's Sylvia & Danny Kaye Playhouse, Columbia University, Rockefeller University and The Town Hall, fourteen tours of Japan and Southeast Asia - all with the New York Symphonic Ensemble, debuts in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Osaka and acclaimed concerto performances with Gerard Schwarz and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, both at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall and at the prestigious Tokyu Bunkamura Festival in Tokyo. With orchestra, he has been guest soloist with the Augsburg, Dayton, Evansville and Indianapolis Philharmonics, Canada’s Symphony Nova Scotia, the National Chamber Orchestra and the Alabama, Annapolis, Florida West Coast, Green Bay, Jackson, Oakland East Bay, Pensacola, Princeton, Richmond and Stamford Symphonies, under the batons of Leslie B. Dunner, Peter Leonard, Alfred Savia, Lawrence Leighton Smith, Richard Westerfield, Michael Morgan and Leif Bjaland. He also presented the world premiere of James Cohn's Concerto for Clarinet & String Orchestra at the international ClarinetFest '97 at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. Of special distinction was Mr. Manasse’s 2002 London debut in a Barbican Centre performance of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto with Gerard Schwarz and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.
     Jon Manasse’s current season is highlighted by return appearances with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra and National Philharmonic, a performance with The Amadeus Trio, a Boston duo-recital with the distinguished American pianist, Jon Nakamatsu, and a debut at Sarasota’s La Musica International Chamber Music Festival.
     An avid chamber musician, Jon Manasse has been featured in New York City programs with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Walter Reade Theatre (on Lincoln Center's "Great Performers Series"), The Sylvia & Danny Kaye Playhouse and Merkin Concert Hall; at the Caramoor International Music Festival, Newport Music Festival, Seattle Chamber Music Festival, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Colorado's Colorado Springs Music Festival and Crested Butte Chamber Music Festival, the Cape and Islands Chamber Music Festival in Massachusetts, Sarasota Music Festival, Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival, St. Bart’s Music Festival and France's Festival International des Arts; and with Germany’s Trio Parnassus and with Germany’s Trio Parnassus and the American, Lark, Manhattan, Orion, Shanghai, Borromeo, Moscow, Rossetti and Ying String Quartets.
     Jon Manasse is also principal clarinetist of the American Ballet Theater Orchestra, and, as, one of the nation's most highly sought-after wind players, has served as guest principal clarinetist of the New York Pops Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and New Jersey and Seattle Symphony Orchestras, under the batons of Gerard Schwarz, Zdenek Macal, Robert Craft and Hugh Wolff. For several seasons, he was also the principal clarinetist of the New York Chamber Symphony. Mr. Manasse has also been a guest clarinetist with the New York Philharmonic in concerts conducted by Valery Gergiev and André Previn, and, during the 2003-04 season, served as the principal clarinetist of The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, performing under the batons of Artistic Director James Levine and, among others, Andrew Davis, Valery Gergiev and Vladimir Jurowski.
     Jon Manasse is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where he studied with David Weber. While at Juilliard, he was the winner of two concerto competitions and the recipient of the Walter W. Naumburg Scholarship. He was also awarded scholarships from the Aspen Institute, Waterloo Music Festival and Academie Internationale D'Ete. Mr. Manasse was a top prize winner in the Thirty-Sixth International Competition for Clarinet in Munich and the youngest winner of the International Clarinet Society Competition.
     Jon Manasse has six critically acclaimed CDS on the XLNT label: the complete clarinet concerti of Weber, with Lukas Foss and the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra; the complete works for clarinet and piano of Weber, with pianist Samuel Sanders; recording premieres of 20th Century clarinet works; "Clarinet Music from 3 Centuries," including Mozart's Clarinet Quintet (with the Shanghai Quartet), as well as music by Spohr, Gershwin and James Cohn; James Cohn’s Clarinet Concerto #2; and, most recently released, the concerti of Mozart, Nielsen and Copland, with Kirk Trevor and the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra.
     Jon Manasse is an official "Performing Artist" of both the Buffet Crampon Company and Vandoren, the Parisian firms that are the world's oldest and most distinguished clarinet maker and reed maker, respectively. In 1995, he was appointed to the faculty of the Eastman School of Music.