Grego, Michael

Clarinetist from Los Angeles, California, who attended the USC Thornton School of Music and studied with Christie Lundquist, Mitchell Lune and David Schifrin.

Groups with whom he has worked include the Asia America Symphony Orchestra, the California E.A.R. Unit, Camerata Pacifica, Chamber Music Palisades, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Joffrey Ballet Orchestra, the Long Beach Symphony, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Los Angeles Music Center Opera, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society, Opera Pacific Orchestra, the Pasadena Symphony, the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, the Southwest Chamber Music Society, and the USC Contemporary Music Ensemble.

On 9^th February 1988, the USC Contemporary Music Ensemble delivered the Los Angeles premiere of William Kraft’s “Quartet for the Love of Time” at Hancock Auditorium.

The Southwest Chamber Music Society gave a recital at Claremont College in Pomona, California, on 22^nd September 1988. Their program comprised Elliott Carter’s “Esprit rude/esprit doux”, Arnold Schoenberg’s “Wind Quintet, Op. 26” and Charles Wuorinen’s “Horn Trio”.

On 3^rd October 1993, they appeared at the Pasadena Presbyterian Church where they performed Antonin Dvorak’s “String Quartet, Op. 77”, the west coast premiere of Anthony Payne’s “The Song Streams in the Firmament” and Sergei Prokofiev’s “Quintet, Op. 39”.

They were at the Huntington Art Gallery Loggia on 5^th August 1996, when they interpreted Carl Friedrich Abel’s “Quartet in G”, Ingolf Dahl’s “Concerto a Tre”, Franz Joseph Haydn’s “Flute Trio, Hob. IV:1”, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Flute Quartet, K. 28”, and Wuorinen’s “Transcriptions from the Glogauer Song-Book”.

On 12^th March 2004, the Los Angeles Music Center Opera mounted Die Frau ohne Schatten by Richard Strauss.

Michael, along with flautist Susan Greenberg, pianist Delores Stevens and soprano Elissa Johnston, haunted the Dabney Lounge at the California Institute of Technology on 3^rd April 2005. Their set included music of Georges Bizet, Aaron Copland, Georg Frideric Handel, Robert Muczynski, Francis Poulenc, Maurice Ravel and Franz Schubert.

On 29^th January 2008, Chamber Music Palisades presented a concert at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church that featured “Contrasts” by Bela Bartok, “Pieces de Clavecin” by Jean-Philippe Rameau, “Sonata for Flute and Piano” by Sergei Prokofiev, and “Sonata in G major for Violin and Piano” by Johannes Brahms.

They were back at St. Matthew’s on 28^th October 2008 for the opening of their twelfth season. The evening’s music included “Fragments for Flute, Clarinet and Bassoon” by Muczynski, “Peter and Mr. Wolf” by Alan Chapman, “Quartet for Flute, Clarinet, Bassoon and Horn” by Gioachino Rossini, “Sonata in E flat major for Horn and Piano” by Franz Danzi, and “Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano” by Gernot Wolfgang.

On 11^th November 2008, the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra Chamber Players took the stage at Fleischmann Auditorium, where they offered up “Appel Interstellaire” from Des Canyons aux Etoiles by Olivier Messiaen, “Cinq Pieces for Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon” by Jacques Ibert, “Duo for Clarinet and Bassoon”,”Three Short Stories” by Wolfgang, and “Sextet in E flat, Op. 71” by Ludwig van Beethoven.

They returned to Fleischmann on 2^nd February 2010 for a performance of “Douze Variations sur “Ah!” Vous dirai-je Maman” by Mozart, “Kleine Kammermusik, Op. 24, No. 2” and “Musikalisches Blumengartlein und Leyptziger Allerley” by Paul Hindemith, and “Thin Air” by Wolfgang.

On 12^th March 2011, the Los Angeles Music Center Opera presented The Turn of the Screw by Benjamin Britten at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

Michael was the featured soloist when the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra performed the “Clarinet Concerto” of Mozart at the Lobero Theatre on 17^th March 2012.

Recordings on which he appears include Daniel Variations by Steve Reich, Trumpet of the Swan by Jason Robert Brown, and the soundtracks of Bobby, Spanglish, Wall-E and X2: X-Men United.

In the field of music education, he has taught at the California State University Bob Cole Conservatory of Music in Long Beach and Chapman College (a.k.a. Chapman University) in Orange, California.

He performs here on the NBC Nightly News Theme scoring session…

https://youtu.be/mNI11es8Y2o

Sources:

Grego, Michael

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