One of the premier clarinetists of his time, Charles Russo (1936-2013) was a distinguished soloist, chamber artist and orchestral musician who played in countless performances, TV broadcasts and recordings. Many of these were historic performances, such as Pablo Casals’s US appearance at the 25th anniversary of the United Nations, with Luciano Pavarotti as part of the 100th telecast of Live from Lincoln Center, and as soloist in Morton Gould’s Derivations for Solo Clarinet for the Aaron Copland tribute.
Russo was a guest artist and soloist with some of the country’s leading string quartets, chamber ensembles and orchestras, including the Juilliard, Guarneri, and Emerson String Quartets, New School Concerts, Mostly Mozart, Caramoor and the New York Chamber Symphony.
He also given much 20th-century music its first hearing, both on recordings and in prestigious series and venues for contemporary repertoire.
A Grammy nominee, Russo was involved in more than 100 recordings on nearly a dozen labels, from chamber music to full orchestral works.
His critically acclamied CD recordings, released on the Premier Label, include Music for Clarinet and Strings and Strings and Clarinet Allo Cinema. In the Fall of 2004 his recordings of the clarinet quintets of Mozart and Weber were released on the Helicon label.
He performed and recorded with many of the world’s greatest composers and conductors, including Stravinsky, Copland, Stokowski and Bernstein; as well as scores of renowned performers including Arthur Rubinstein, Rudolf Serkin, Isaac Stern and Beverly Sills.
In his teaching and master classes across the country, he had an important influence on many young musicians. He served on the faculty of Manhattan School of Music for more than 25 years and also taught at the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford.
Other appointments were on the faculties of Yale, Vassar and the New England Conservatory of Music.
Russo was also the founder and artistic director of Le Mont Chamber Music Seminar in Nyack, New York.