BILL KALINKOS – Clarinetist, National Gallery of Art New Music Ensemble

Originally from Queens, New York City, clarinetist Bill Kalinkos enjoys a diverse musical career. He is a member of the critically acclaimed ensemble Alarm Will Sound, with whom he has appeared internationally and recorded on Cantaloupe and Nonesuch labels. Performances with AWS include those at Carnegie Hall, Library of Congress, Lincoln Center Festival, Miller Theatre, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, The Kitchen, the Kimmel Center, (le) Poisson Rouge, Stanford Lively Arts, Duke Performances, Warhol Museum, Whitney Museum, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Holland Festival (Amsterdam), The Barbican (London), Märzmusik (Berlin Philharmonie), Art November (Moscow), Pro Arte (St. Petersburg), Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), Musikfest (Bremen), Sacrum Profanum (Krakow), and TransArt (Bolzano). Bill is also a founding member of Ensemble Signal with whom he has recorded for the Orange Mountain and Mode labels and has performed at venues such as the Tanglewood Festival for Contemporary Music, Cleveland Museum of Art, Bang on a Can Marathon in New York and Philadelphia, and June in Buffalo. He serves as clarinetist and executive director of the newly formed Deviant Septet, a group dedicated to fulfilling Igor Stravinsky's vision of creating a repertoire for his The Soldier's Tale ensemble. In addition, Bill has played with Eco Ensemble for the Cal Performances series, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, East Coast Contemporary Ensemble, Ensemble de Sade, Slee Sinfonietta, Metropolis Ensemble, Toby Twining Music, Fire Wire Ensemble, Ensemble Pamplemousse, and Anti-Social Music.

Recognized by the The Washington Post as a "notable contemporary music specialist", Bill has been fortunate enough to work with and premiere pieces by many composers, including Helmut Lachenmann, Roger Reynolds, Steve Reich, John Adams, Wolfgang Rihm, Harrison Birtwistle, György Ligeti, Augusta Read Thomas, Jonny Greenwood, Julia Wolfe, Michael Gordon, David Lang, Nico Muhly, and John Zorn. As a member of AWS, he has had the opportunity to premiere many of his fellow ensemble members' compositions in addition to works by the numerous composers that the group has collaborated with. Bill most recently gave the world premiere of Roger Reynolds's Toward Another World... for clarinet and electronics at the 2011 Mizzou Summer New Music Festival. Past solo performances include Aaron Copland’s Concerto with the Columbia Civic Orchestra and John Adams’ Gnarly Buttons with AWS. Of the performance with AWS, The San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "Gnarly Buttons boasted a tender, accomplished solo turn by clarinetist Bill Kalinkos."

As an orchestral player, Bill has performed with the Philadelphia and Cleveland orchestras. With Cleveland, he has toured the west coast, Europe, and recorded a live DVD performance on the Euroarts label of Anton Bruckner's Fifth Symphony at St. Florian in Linz, where Bruckner himself had served as music director. Bill has also toured with New World Symphony, performing at Théâtre national de l'Opéra-Comique in Paris, and Festival Internacional de Música y Danza in Granada. Additionally, he has played with the Wordless Music Orchestra and CityMusic Cleveland. Bill is currently co-principal clarinet of the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra and a member of IRIS Orchestra. Festival appearances include those at Music in the Vineyards, Spoleto Festival USA, Blossom Festival performances with The Cleveland Orchestra, and National Repertory Orchestra.

Upon arrival to the San Francisco Bay area in 2011, Bill joined the faculty of the University of California at Santa Cruz and Berkeley, and was appointed principal clarinetist of the Oakland East Bay Symphony. Prior to moving to the Bay area, he worked as a teaching artist for The Philadelphia Orchestra. He received his undergraduate degree and Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, studying with Kenneth Grant, principal clarinetist of the Rochester Philharmonic. Bill's graduate studies were with Cleveland Orchestra principal clarinetist Franklin Cohen at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he was a concerto competition winner. While at CIM, his performance of Shulamit Ran's For An Actor: Monologue was reviewed in The Plain Dealer, Cleveland:

Clarinetist Bill Kalinkos delivered a performance as dramatic as any verbal Shakespearean soliloquy. He enunciated the opening motif clearly and maintained its basic profile as the core of widely undulating outbursts and sometimes screeching hoarseness.

Bill received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University where he studied with Daniel Gilbert, formerly of The Cleveland Orchestra, and Alan Kay, a member of Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

Bill has presented master classes across the country at schools such as Eastman, University of Miami, Otterbein College, Youngstown State University, and University of Missouri. Educational residencies include those at New York University, James Madison University, University of Colorado at Boulder, Duke University, and Harvard University. He has presented visiting artist recitals at a number of these schools and has curated multiple concerts at Town Hall Seattle, including a performance of Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time. A review of the concert in Seattle Crosscut stated that...
In the 'abyss of the birds' (the third movement, for clarinet alone), Kalinkos provided a highlight with his liquid phrasing and extraordinary dynamic range from tantalizing near-silence to violent squawks.
A 2009 Town Hall Seattle show of five world premieres inspired the creation of The Links, along with violinist Yuki Numata and cellist Joshua Roman, a group dedicated to performing music beyond traditional styles. The Links have since played at WNYC's Greene Space, Palm Beach State College, and the inaugural Queens New Music Festival.

Bill's most recent album releases include music by John Aylward, with East Coast Contemporary Ensemble conducted by Matthias Pintscher, on Albany Records and music by Jonathan Leshnoff, with IRIS Orchestra, on Naxos. Upcoming releases include discs of music by Caleb Burhans and Derek Bermel with AWS, and Steve Reich's Double Sextet and Music for 18 Musicians with Signal.



Bill Kalinkos
Bill Kalinkos rehearsing in Washington, DC, 2012
John Cage Centennial Festival Washington, DC/Christopher Dobey


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