Brazosport Symphony Orchestra is welcoming home Lake Jackson’s own Robert Walzel in Jazz Meets Classical: Featuring Robert Walzel on Saturday, April 2 at 7:30 PM at The Clarion. This concert will also include BSO’s Young Melody Competition winners.
Since 2010, Robert Walzel has served as dean of the University of Kansas School of Music. Performing extensively in essentially all mediums featuring clarinet and saxophone, he is hailed by critics as a “remarkable clarinet virtuoso” possessing “great finesse”, a “rich, warm, focused tone” and “effortless technique.” Featured in performances throughout the United States and around the world, Walzel has performed in 30 countries and presented master classes and lectures at several of the world’s leading music schools.
Partnering with pianist Steven Glaser as the Con Fuoco Duo, a collaboration extending 30 years, Walzel has toured as an Artistic Ambassador for the United States Information Agency (Department of State). A proponent of jazz and other culturally influenced music, he has premiered and recorded several new works written for him. He is featured on multiple recording labels including Albany, Navona, Con Fuoco Digital and Mark Records.
Walzel served on the faculty at Texas Tech University and as Principal Clarinetist of the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra for 11 years prior to moving to Kansas. Previous administrative leadership positions include those at Sam Houston State University in Texas and at the University of Utah. A past president of the International Clarinet Association, he has served two full terms as a commissioner on the Commission on Accreditation for the National Association of Schools of Music.
Walzel is a 1977 graduate of Brazoswood High School and remains grateful for the rich and supportive musical culture of the Brazosport community…particularly his foundational music teachers Ernest Clark, Rod Cannon, Herman Gauthier, Fred McDonald and his first music teacher, Iona Walzel.
