David Krakauer
"Krakauer is connected with something deep, mysterious, and timeless. It's as ancient as the sound of the Shofar...as penetrating as the sound of his clarinet hero Sidney Bechet, yet as modern as the post-Trane/Dolphy school of improvising that is lapped up by young hipsters at Downtown venues...you've got one extremely gifted, amazingly versatile, and uncommonly open-minded virtuoso, willing and able to go anywhere with his clarinet..." — Bill Kilkowski, Jazziz
Internationally acclaimed clarinetist DAVID KRAKAUER redefines the notion of a concert artist. Known for his mastery of myriad styles, he occupies the unique position of being one of the world’s leading exponents of Eastern European Jewish klezmer music, and at the same time a major voice in classical music. As one of the foremost musicians of the vital new wave of klezmer, David Krakauer tours the globe with his celebrated Klezmer Madness! ensemble. While firmly rooted in traditional klezmer folk tunes, the band “hurls the tradition of klezmer music into the rock era” (Jon Pareles, The New York Times).
In addition to his annual European tours to major international festivals and jazz clubs, recent seasons brought Krakauer and his band to the Library of Congress, Stanford Lively Arts, San Francisco Performances, Hancher Auditorium,Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, the Venice Biennale, Krakow Jewish Culture Festival, BBC Proms, Saalfelden Jazz Festival, Transmusicales de Rennes, La Cigale, New Morning in Paris, and many others. In addition, Krakauer is in demand worldwide as a guest soloist with the finest ensembles including the Emerson, Orion and Kronos String Quartets as well as orchestras including the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, the Phoenix Symphony, the Quebec Symphony and the Seattle Symphony.
Krakauer has forged alliances among his genre of world music and jazz, rock, funk and hip-hop.
Krakauer’s discography contains some of the most important klezmer recordings of the past decade including six CDs under his own name: two on John Zorn's Tzadik Label and four on Label Bleu; plus collaborations with the Klezmatics, Itzak Perlman, the Kronos Quartet/Osvaldo Golijov and Socalled. Composers who have written major pieces for him include David del Tredici, Paul Moravec, Anthony Coleman and Wlad Marhulets.
David Krakauer is on the clarinet and chamber music faculties of Mannes College of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, NYU and the Bard College Conservatory of Music.
David Krakauer plays SELMER clarinets with RICO reeds.
