Michael Lowenstern

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Michael Lowenstern
Michael Lowenstern promo.jpg
Michael Lowenstern in 2017
Born (1968-08-23) August 23, 1968 (age 56)
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Occupation(s)Musician, educator
Years active1994 - present
Notable workSpasm, Ten Children, Sway
SpouseKatherine Cooke (m. 1997)
ChildrenAriel Lowenstern
AwardsInternational Gaudeamus Interpreters Competition, Second Prize, 1991
Websitewww.earspasm.com

Michael Lowenstern (born August 23, 1968) is an American musician, composer and educator, specializing in bass clarinet. He is well known for his YouTube channel Earspasm [1] and for his many recordings featuring the bass clarinet as a solo instrument in classical, jazz, and electronica formats.

Contents

Early life

Lowenstern was born in Chicago, Illinois and grew up in the Hyde Park neighborhood on the city's South Side. His father Edward was a serial entrepreneur, most well known for his work developing the field of consumer debt consolidation in the late 1950s, and his mother Lois, a real estate appraiser for ABN Amro Bank. The youngest of four, he has one brother, Ken, and two sisters, Linda and Beth. Attending the University of Chicago Laboratory School beginning in 1973, he began playing the clarinet at age 8. He regularly shares his story of that instrument: "I had an old instrument my mom used in high school, and my sister used in high school, and dammit, I was going to play it, because my parent's weren't about to 'buy me an instrument that I would just quit in a few years.'" [2] He was moved by his band director to bass clarinet after two years "because I was holding the band back and I would do less damage on the bass clarinet." [3]

His first clarinet teacher was John Bruce Yeh, of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, whom his father contacted through a mutual friend, Dale Clevenger, the orchestra's principal French horn player. He spent summers at the National Music Camp (now Interlochen Arts Camp) in Interlochen, Michigan, graduating in 1985 from the Interlochen Arts Academy. While at Interlochen, Lowenstern studied with Richard MacDowell.

He attended the Eastman School of Music, graduating with a bachelor's degree in music with a performer's certificate in 1989, studying with Charles Neidich, and immediately received a Fulbright grant to move to Amsterdam,The Netherlands, to continue his studies with bass clarinetist, Harry Sparnaay. Post-graduate studies continued with Charles Neidich at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where he received his MM and PhD in music and composition. It is at Stony Brook where he became interested in computer music, having been one of the early beta-testers of Cycling74's Max software. It is also at Stony Brook where he met and begain work with his long-time collaborator, violinist Todd Reynolds.

Performing career

In 1994, Lowenstern moved to Brooklyn, New York and began performing and recording with various ensembles, including Steve Reich and Musicians, Saxophonist John Zorn, The Klezmatics, and The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. In 1996, his first album, Spasm, was released by New World Records, which is a collection of contemporary classical Bass Clarinet compositions. In 2000, Lowenstern joined the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra as Bass Clarinetist, and performed on two Grammy Award winning albums with the ensemble under Zdenek Macal. That same year, his second album, 1985 was released by Capstone Records.

In mid-2005, Lowenstern made a major shift in his career, and resigned from all of his regular ensembles, including the Chamber Music Society and the New Jersey Symphony, deciding to focus entirely on his solo compositions and performances. Between 2003 and 2015, Lowenstern self-released several albums, though his imprint Earspasm Music. During this period, Lowenstern served on the faculties of New York University, the Juilliard School, and the Manhattan School of Music, teaching bass clarinet in their Contemporary Performance Program.

Lowenstern's YouTube channel was established in early 2006, but early content was removed, and few videos exist prior to 2011. At that time, Lowenstern began making and posting videos on that platform for a student, so she could listen to her etudes between lessons. [3] The channel grew consistently over the decade, and is now one of the highest-ranked clarinet channels [4] by viewership and subscriptions. A number of his videos have created some controversy in the clarinet world, and he is often the subject of intense debate on the long-established Clarinet Pages of Woodwind.org [5] and Sax On The Web. [6] In an interview from July, 2021, Lowenstern is quoted as saying "I don't take myself, or music, too seriously, and I think that offends some people."

Advertising career

In the late 1990s, Lowenstern began working at large advertising agencies in New York City "as a way to supplement his habit of eating and paying rent." [7] Once retired from orchestra work, he began work full time at MRM/McCann digital agency. In 2008, Lowenstern moved to R/GA to found that agency's Digital Advertising group. It was at R/GA that Lowenstern won several industry awards, including two Cannes Lions, OneShow pencils for his work on Barack Obama's presidential campaign, and several Webby Awards. In 2017, Lowenstern was hired by Amazon to lead creative strategy and development for their automotive advertising Brand Innovation Lab.

Personal life

Michael is married to clarinetist Katherine Cooke, and together they have one daughter, Ariel Lowenstern (born August, 1999). He is a certificated pilot, and enjoys flying his small 4-seater 1972 Piper Arrow, [8] which he calls a "Toyota with wings." [2] [3]

Recordings

YearTitleEnsemble/Leader
1985Quiet CityEastman Wind Ensemble/Wynton Marsalis
1992Flying Swan Chen Yuanlin
1994The Travels of BabarRaphael Mostel
1995Xenakis Ensemble Music IEnsemble ST-X
1995Emergency MusicJulie Wolfe/Bang on a Can
1995JagEliot Sharp/Quintet of the Americas
1996SpasmMichael Lowenstern
1996Rare EventsDan Weymouth
1996Works by Princeton Composers
1996Xenakis Ensemble Music IIEnsemble ST-X
1996City MusicSteve Reich Ensemble
1996Common SenseCommon Sense Ensemble
1997State Of The UnionEliot Sharp
1997Eight LinesSteve Reich Ensemble
1998The Child GodBun Ching Lam
1998Arnold Schoenberg Op. 29Robert Craft
1999China Exchange Chen Yuanlin
1999The Character of American SunlightJerome Kitzke and The Mad Coyote
1999Café 1930Mark Gould
1999Schoenberg Chamber SymphonyRobert Craft
2000Concertos ISequitur
2000Where The Wild Things AreRandy Woolf
2000Reel LifeHoward Shore
2000Pines Of RomeNew Jersey Symphony Orchestra
20001985Michael Lowenstern
2001In CBang On A Can All-Stars
2001Spectre's BrideNew Jersey Symphony Orchestra
2001Restless SpiritsDora Ohrenstein
2002SusquehannasZeitgeist
2002When The Smoke Clears Barbara White
2003Three MusiciansRobert Morris
2003BlurredBillband
2003Ten ChildrenMichael Lowenstern
2003ChimerasJohn Zorn
2004To Have And To HoldSequitur
2004PhasesSteve Reich Ensemble
2004Heavy LightStephen Mackey/Mosaic
2005Dvorak RequiemNew Jersey Symphony Orchestra
2005When Crows GatherSequitur
2005Webern 5 Canons on Latin TextsRobert Craft
2005Crossing the BoulevardScott Johnson
2005RitualsJohn Zorn
2006Tell The BirtsEve Beglarian
2006Ottulpo!Larry Austin
2006FadeMichael Lowenstern
2007Pit BandWilliam Bolcom
2007Schoenberg Pierrot LunaireRobert Craft
2007Sing to the SunAlvin Singleton
2007One PeaceGregg August
2007Things You Must Do To Get To HeavenVirgil Moorefield
2009In C RemixedTerry Riley/Bill Ryan
2010Spin CycleMichael Lowenstern
2010AmericansScott Johnson
2011OuterboroughTodd Reynolds
2013Toward DaybreakBillband
2014SwayMichael Lowenstern
2016Trending on the Verge of NormalcyGuy Klucevsek
2019The GoodsMichael Lowenstern
2019Insight (single)Michael Lowenstern
2021Distant PlacesTom Nazziola
2021Ten Children, Vol 1 & 2Michael Lowenstern
2021The Redness of BloodJerome Kitzke

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References

  1. "Earspasm Music - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  2. 1 2 Andy's Licorice Talk - Interview with Michael Lowenstern, 5 September 2020, retrieved 2021-08-14[ dead YouTube link ]
  3. 1 2 3 Michael Lowenstern LIVE @ Clarinet Connections, 14 May 2020, archived from the original on 2021-12-21, retrieved 2021-08-14
  4. "Earspasm Music's YouTube Stats (Summary Profile) - Social Blade Stats". socialblade.com. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  5. "The Clarinet Pages - your guide to the clarinet". test.woodwind.org. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
  6. "Sax on the Web Forum". Sax on the Web Forum. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  7. "CHANGE YOUR TUNE". Apple Podcasts. Apple. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  8. "N468PM (1972 PIPER PA-28R-200 owned by LOWENSTERN MICHAEL) Aircraft Registration". FlightAware. Retrieved 2021-08-14.