Clarinet
Richie Hawley, who was appointed principal clarinet of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 1994, began his clarinet studies with Yehuda Gilad at the Colburn School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles at age 9 and went on to graduate from the Curtis Institute of Music as a student of Donald Montanaro. Before his Cincinnati appointment, he served as principal clarinet of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina.
Mr. Hawley has performed chamber music throughout China, Japan, and North America and has participated in the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont. In 1988 his ensemble Trio con Brio was awarded first prize in the Coleman Chamber Music Competition. He is also a frequent performer in the Linton Chamber Music series in Cincinnati.
An active soloist, Mr. Hawley has performed concertos with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Eastern Music Festival Orchestra, and the Santa Barbara Symphony. Mr. Hawley's 2006 solo performances of Bernstein's Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs marked his fourth time as a featured soloist on a subscription series in his 14 years with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
Among his numerous accolades, Mr. Hawley received the Presidential Scholar in the Arts medal and award in a White House ceremony, and has been a recipient of the Léni Fé Bland Foundation Grant.
Mr. Hawley heads the clarinet department at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and is nearing completion of a book about the orchestral clarinet audition process titled Behind the Screen.
Originally from Los Angeles, Mr. Hawley often visits Southern California to pursue his second passion of surfing and surf photography. He has surfed and photographed numerous exotic locations around the world and currently is one of three staff photographers for the island of Namotu in Fiji.
A Buffet-Crampon artist, Mr. Hawley performs on the Tosca model of clarinet. He exclusively uses Vandoren reeds and mouthpieces.
This is Mr. Hawley's third year on the faculty of the Music Academy of the West.