Eric Paul Mandat is a
composerA composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and performer of contemporary
clarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
music.
Mandat began his clarinet studies under the tutelage of Richard Joiner of the
Denver SymphonyThe Denver Symphony Orchestra, established in 1934 and dissolved in 1989, was a professional American orchestra in Denver, Colorado. Until 1978, when the Boettcher Concert Hall was built to house the symphony orchestra, it performed in a succession of theaters, amphitheaters and auditoriums...
. He later studied with
Lee GibsonLee "Lethal" Gibson is an American mixed martial artist. He competes in the Lightweight division. He lost at EliteXC - ShoXC against Muhsin Corbbrey on July 27, 2007, but rebounded after a two-year lay off against Joe Wilk at ShoMMA....
,
Keith WilsonKeith L. Wilson is an American classical musician. He is a clarinetist, teacher, and conductor.-Teaching and conducting career:Wilson was appointed to the faculty of the Yale School of Music, New Haven, Connecticut, in 1946....
,
D. Stanley HastyDonald Stanley Hasty was professor emeritus of clarinet at the Eastman School of Music....
, and
Charles NeidichCharles Neidich is an American classical clarinetist, composer, and conductor.-Early career:A native New Yorker of Russian and Greek descent, Charles Neidich began his clarinet studies with his father, Irving Neidich, at the age of eight, and continued them with the renowned teacher Leon Russianoff...
. Mandat received his undergraduate education at the
University of North TexasThe University of North Texas is a public institution of higher education and research in Denton. Founded in 1890, UNT is part of the University of North Texas System. As of the fall of 2010, the University of North Texas, Denton campus, had a certified enrollment of 36,067...
, and received graduate degrees from the
Yale School of MusicThe Yale School of Music is one of the twelve professional schools at Yale University and one of the premier music conservatories in the world....
, and the
Eastman School of MusicThe Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...
.
In his performances and compositions, Mandat uses extended techniques such as multiphonics and microtones. In a
November 2005 review of Sean Osborn's American Spirit cd, Fanfare Magazine remarked that Mandat's music creates "amazing technical effects for the instrument" that are "startling and eerie." In a review in
The Clarinet of Mandat's Folk Songs, the author found that “A composition of this caliber will most likely enter the performance repertoire as the representative piece of the decade!” Reviewing Mandat's solo CD, The Extended Clarinet, in The Clarinet, Michele Gingras wrote that, “In one word, The Extended Clarinet is astonishing. Eric Mandat’s process at writing and playing is bound to leave any listener in awe.” Although most of his corpus consists of works for solo clarinet, more recent compositions are for clarinet ensembles.
Mandat currently serves as Professor of Music and Distinguished Scholar at
Southern Illinois University CarbondaleSouthern Illinois University Carbondale is a public research university located in Carbondale, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1869, SIUC is the flagship campus of the Southern Illinois University system...
, and he has also taught as Visiting Professor of Music at
Jacobs School of MusicThe Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, is a music conservatory established in 1921. Until 2005, it was known as the Indiana University School of Music...
at
Indiana UniversityIndiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
. Students from his studio at
Southern Illinois University CarbondaleSouthern Illinois University Carbondale is a public research university located in Carbondale, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1869, SIUC is the flagship campus of the Southern Illinois University system...
have included
Sean Osborn of the
Metropolitan OperaThe Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
, concert recitalist
Michael Norsworthy , international performer and teacher Boja Kragulj , and many other orchestral clarinetists and clarinet professors.
He frequently performs in the
Chicago Symphony OrchestraThe Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
's MusicNOW Series (including as principal clarinet for
Pierre BoulezPierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...
's 80th Birthday Concert under Boulez's baton and a performance of
Osvaldo GolijovOsvaldo Noé Golijov is a Grammy award–winning composer of classical music.-Biography:Osvaldo Golijov was born in and grew up in La Plata, Argentina, in a Jewish family that had emigrated to Argentina in the 1920s from Romania and Russia.Golijov has developed a rich musical language, the result of...
's
Ayre with
Dawn UpshawDawn Upshaw is an American soprano described as "one of the most consequential performers of our time" by the Los Angeles Times. The recipient of several Grammy Awards and Edison Prize-winning discs, Upshaw is at home both in opera and art song, and in repertoire from Baroque to contemporary...
). He also regularly performs with the Tone Road Ramblers, an independent ensemble specializing in experimental and improvised music. His reviews of new clarinet recordings frequently appear in
The Clarinet. Mandat's recordings include his own solo clarinet CD entitled The Extended Clarinet, as well as recordings with the Tone Road Ramblers and the Transatlantic Trio.
External links