Single Reed Expressions

Ronald Caravan (clarinet and saxophone) and Sar-Shalom Strong (piano) perform chamber music masterworks.

Program
Francis Poulenc: Sonata for Clarinet and Piano
Samuel Adler: Canto XIV for Solo Clarinet (A Klezmer Fantasy for Clarinet Solo)
Steven Stucky: Meditation & Dance for Clarinet and Piano
G.F. Handel: Sonata IV in G, adapted for C Soprano Saxophone and Piano
Lawson Lunde: Sonata for Soprano Saxophone and Piano
Erwin Dressel: Partita for Alto Saxophone and Piano

A musician of considerable versatility, Ronald Caravan is a performer of equal accomplishment on both clarinet and saxophone, the single-reed woodwinds. He has also gained wide recognition as an author, a composer, an arranger, and a teacher as well as for the line of professional-grade clarinet and saxophone mouthpieces that carry his name. For most of his musical career he served as a member of the faculty of Syracuse University (1980-2015) where he taught both clarinet and saxophone applied music and directed the Syracuse University Saxophone Ensemble. In addition to his many solo and chamber music performances, he has performed with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra and Symphoria on both clarinet and saxophone and with the Society for New Music. In early 2017 his landmark CD series “Single Reed Expressions” (Mark Records 2016) was released worldwide by Naxos, a series of 8 separate CDs, each about evenly split between clarinet and saxophone literature, performed in collaboration with Sar-Shalom Strong. Dr. Caravan earned the Performer’s Certificate on clarinet from the Eastman School of Music as well as the Doctor of Music Arts in Music Education and Master of Arts in Music Theory. His principal teachers were William Willett, Stanley Hasty, and Sigurd Rascher.

Pianist Sar-Shalom Strong has achieved wide recognition for his performances of solo and collaborative works, including a substantial and varied duo repertoire. In addition to recital performances with well-known artists such as flutist Gary Shocker, soprano Helen Boatwright, heldentenor Jon Frederic West, and bass Peter Volpe, Mr. Strong has performed orchestral keyboard and concerti with the Syracuse Symphony, Symphoria, and the Utica Symphony. He has premiered and recorded numerous works through the Society for New Music and earned critical acclaim for a compact disc recording of Hugo Wolf songs with soprano Janet Brown, as well as for his performances with Ronald Caravan on the 8-CD series “Single Reed Expressions,” which features recital works for clarinet and saxophone, mostly in duo with piano. He has also performed regularly for Civic Morning Musicals. Currently on the piano faculty of Hamilton College, he has also served at Colgate and Syracuse Universities. Mr. Strong earned degrees from Knox College and Syracuse University. His major teachers were Charles Beno, Barbara Lounsbury, and Robert Weirich.

This recital has been graciously sponsored by Richard Schaffer.

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