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.

Michael Lowenstern
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

Early life

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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

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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

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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

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Michael is married to clarinetist Katherine Cooke, and together they have one daughter, Ariel (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

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Year Title Ensemble/Leader
1985 Quiet City Eastman Wind Ensemble/Wynton Marsalis
1992 Flying Swan Chen Yuanlin
1994 The Travels of Babar Raphael Mostel
1995 Xenakis Ensemble Music I Ensemble ST-X
1995 Emergency Music Julie Wolfe/Bang on a Can
1995 Jag Eliot Sharp/Quintet of the Americas
1996 Spasm Michael Lowenstern
1996 Rare Events Dan Weymouth
1996 Works by Princeton Composers
1996 Xenakis Ensemble Music II Ensemble ST-X
1996 City Music Steve Reich Ensemble
1996 Common Sense Common Sense Ensemble
1997 State Of The Union Eliot Sharp
1997 Eight Lines Steve Reich Ensemble
1998 The Child God Bun Ching Lam
1998 Arnold Schoenberg Op. 29 Robert Craft
1999 China Exchange Chen Yuanlin
1999 The Character of American Sunlight Jerome Kitzke and The Mad Coyote
1999 Café 1930 Mark Gould
1999 Schoenberg Chamber Symphony Robert Craft
2000 Concertos I Sequitur
2000 Where The Wild Things Are Randy Woolf
2000 Reel Life Howard Shore
2000 Pines Of Rome New Jersey Symphony Orchestra
2000 1985 Michael Lowenstern
2001 In C Bang On A Can All-Stars
2001 Spectre's Bride New Jersey Symphony Orchestra
2001 Restless Spirits Dora Ohrenstein
2002 Susquehannas Zeitgeist
2002 When The Smoke Clears Barbara White
2003 Three Musicians Robert Morris
2003 Blurred Billband
2003 Ten Children Michael Lowenstern
2003 Chimeras John Zorn
2004 To Have And To Hold Sequitur
2004 Phases Steve Reich Ensemble
2004 Heavy Light Stephen Mackey/Mosaic
2005 Dvorak Requiem New Jersey Symphony Orchestra
2005 When Crows Gather Sequitur
2005 Webern 5 Canons on Latin Texts Robert Craft
2005 Crossing the Boulevard Scott Johnson
2005 Rituals John Zorn
2006 Tell The Birts Eve Beglarian
2006 Ottulpo! Larry Austin
2006 Fade Michael Lowenstern
2007 Pit Band William Bolcom
2007 Schoenberg Pierrot Lunaire Robert Craft
2007 Sing to the Sun Alvin Singleton
2007 One Peace Gregg August
2007 Things You Must Do To Get To Heaven Virgil Moorefield
2009 In C Remixed Terry Riley/Bill Ryan
2010 Spin Cycle Michael Lowenstern
2010 Americans Scott Johnson
2011 Outerborough Todd Reynolds
2013 Toward Daybreak Billband
2014 Sway Michael Lowenstern
2016 Trending on the Verge of Normalcy Guy Klucevsek
2019 The Goods Michael Lowenstern
2019 Insight (single) Michael Lowenstern
2021 Distant Places Tom Nazziola
2021 Ten Children, Vol 1 & 2 Michael Lowenstern
2021 The Redness of Blood Jerome Kitzke

References

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  1. ^ "Earspasm Music - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  2. ^ a b Andy's Licorice Talk - Interview with Michael Lowenstern, retrieved 2021-08-14[dead YouTube link]
  3. ^ a b c Michael Lowenstern LIVE @ Clarinet Connections, 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.
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