Chicago computer composer’s work premieres in Paris

The world premiere of University of Chicago composer Howard Sandroff’s “la Joie” ("The Joy") for clarinet trio will be performed at ClarinetFest, the International Clarinet Conference, at La Cite’s Universitaire Theatre in Paris July 7. Chicago Symphony Orchestra clarinetists Larry Combs and John Bruce Yeh, and Depaul University clarinet professor Julie DeRoche will perform.

Although Sandroff won’t attend the premiere in person because he is completing a new work for a November premiere in Chicago, he will attend in spirit, as “la Joie” is dedicated to his wife Mary Ann La Joie-Sandroff, choreographer and teacher, to celebrate their upcoming 25th anniversary.

This is the second time in a month that Sandroff’s works have been performed in Paris. His 1990 composition, “Tephillah for clarinet and computer,” was one of only two works by American composers featured at the inauguration festivities of the Institut de Recherché et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM), a French government-sponsored research center in Paris which was founded by composer/conductor Pierre Boulez. Sandroff’s work uses musical material drawn from the body of Hebrew liturgical chant.

Tephillah (Hebrew for prayer) was performed by clarinet virtuoso and soloist with the Ensemble Intercontemporaign, Alain Damiens, at the Georges Pompidou Center, Paris on June 15 and 16. Computer programming was accomplished by IRCAM technical/musical staff member Gilbert Nuomo.

Commissioned by Yamaha Corporation of America, for Chicago Symphony Clarinetist John Bruce Yeh, Tephillah premiered at the International Clarinet Conference in Quebec in July 1990. Yeh and others have recorded and performed the composition in this country and abroad, and most recently in Chicago at Orchestra Hall (January 1995) and on Concerts Under the Dome (October 95).

Howard Sandroff is Director of the Computer Music Studio and Senior Lecturer in Music at The University of Chicago and Artist-in-Residence of Columbia College’s Radio/Sound Department. His concert works, written for soloists, chamber ensembles and orchestra, have been performed and broadcast throughout the United States, Europe and Japan. Among his most recent works is the musical score to a holocaust documentary by film maker Michael Rabiger entitled “A Child’s Journey Through Auschwitz.”