Kenneth Radnofsky
Encyclopedia
Kenneth A. Radnofsky is a census-designated place in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, just west of Philadelphia along Lancaster Avenue and the border with Delaware County...
) is an American classical saxophonist
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
. He is currently teaching at the New England Conservatory of Music
New England Conservatory of Music
The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, is the oldest independent school of music in the United States.The conservatory is home each year to 750 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate studies along with 1400 more in its Preparatory School as well as the School of...
, the Boston Conservatory
Boston Conservatory
The Boston Conservatory is a performing arts conservatory located in the Fenway-Kenmore region of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in music, dance and musical theater...
, the Longy School of Music
Longy School of Music
The Longy School of Music of Bard College is a conservatory located near Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1915, it was one of the four independent degree-granting music schools in the Boston region along with the New England Conservatory, Berklee College of Music, and Boston...
, and Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
. He specializes in the alto saxophone
Alto saxophone
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
, but plays the soprano
Soprano saxophone
The soprano saxophone is a variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument, invented in 1840. The soprano is the third smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists of the soprillo, sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, contrabass and tubax.A transposing instrument pitched in...
and other sizes as well.
Radnofsky studied with Joseph Allard
Joseph Allard
Joseph Allard , a native of Lowell, MA, was a professor of saxophone and clarinet at the Juilliard School, the New England Conservatory, the Manhattan School of Music, as well as adjunct positions at many other schools. He succeeded saxophonist/clarinetist Vincent J...
, Jeffrey Lerner, David Salge, Terry Anderson, and Duncan Hale. He has performed throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia, and has appeared with many orchestras around the world. He made his New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
debut in 1996, under the direction of Kurt Masur
Kurt Masur
Kurt Masur is a German conductor, particularly noted for his interpretation of German Romantic music.- Biography :Masur was born in Brieg, Lower Silesia, Germany and studied piano, composition and conducting in Leipzig, Saxony. Masur has been married three times...
, and made his Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
debut several years earlier with the New York premiere of Gunther Schuller
Gunther Schuller
Gunther Schuller is an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, and jazz musician.- Biography and works :...
's Concerto with the National Orchestral Association. He has performed on numerous occasions as saxophonist for the Boston Symphony, including several occasions as John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
' soloist in Franz Waxman
Franz Waxman
Franz Waxman was a German-American composer, known for his bravura Carmen Fantasie for violin and orchestra, based on musical themes from the Bizet opera Carmen, and for his musical scores for films....
's saxophone feature 'A Place in the Sun,' and Bernard Hermann's 'Taxi Driver' suites. He also recorded 'A Place in the Sun' with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra
Hollywood Bowl Orchestra
The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra is a symphony orchestra which is managed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and plays the vast majority of its performances at the Hollywood Bowl....
under John Mauceri
John Mauceri
John Francis Mauceri is an American conductor, producer and arranger for theatre, opera and television. For fifteen years, he served on the faculty of Yale University. He was a protege of Leonard Bernstein...
(Philips 4321092), and Debussy Saxophone Rhapsody with NY Philharmonic under Kurt Masur (Teldec 13133).
Radnofsky frequently performs new music. He founded World-Wide Concurrent Premieres & Commissioning Fund, Inc. to promote the creation of new works, serving as the organization's Executive Director. The composers he has commissioned for new works include Gunther Schuller
Gunther Schuller
Gunther Schuller is an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, and jazz musician.- Biography and works :...
, Alan Hovhaness
Alan Hovhaness
Alan Hovhaness was an Armenian-American composer.His music is accessible to the lay listener and often evokes a mood of mystery or contemplation...
, Yang Yong, David Amram
David Amram
David Amram is an American composer, musician, conductor, and writer. As a classical composer and performer, his integration of jazz , ethnic and folk music has led him to work with the likes of Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Willie Nelson, Langston...
, Michael Colgrass
Michael Colgrass
Michael Colgrass is an American-born Canadian musician, composer, and educator.His musical career began in Chicago as a jazz musician . He graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in percussion performance and composition, including studies with Darius Milhaud at the Aspen Festival...
, John McDonald
John McDonald
John McDonald may refer to:*John McDonald , businessman and political figure in Upper Canada and Canada West*John McDonald , member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, 1911–1914...
, Michael Gandolfi
Michael Gandolfi
Michael James Gandolfi is an American composer of contemporary classical music.Initially a self-taught guitarist, Gandolfi entered the Berklee College of Music before transferring to the New England Conservatory of Music after one year...
, Armand Qualliotine, Jaime Fatas, Pasquale Tassone, Shih-Hui Chen, Andy Vores
Andy Vores
Andy Vores is a Welsh classical music and opera composer. He has lived in the United States since 1986 and is based in Boston, Massachusetts.-Education:Vores studied composition at Lancaster University in Lancaster, England...
, Lei Liang, Jakov Jakoulov, Donald Martino
Donald Martino
Donald Martino was a Pulitzer Prize winning American composer.Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, Martino studied composition with Ernst Bacon, Roger Sessions, Milton Babbitt, and Luigi Dallapiccola...
, Elliott Schwartz
Elliott Schwartz
Elliott Schwartz is an American composer. A graduate of Columbia University, He was Beckwith Professor Emeritus of music at Bowdoin College joining the faculty in 1964. In 2006, the Library of Congress acquired his papers to make them part of their permanent collection...
, Chris Theofanidis
Chris Theofanidis
Christopher Theofanidis is an American composer who has had performances by many leading orchestras from around the world, including the London Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Moscow Soloists, the National, Atlanta, Baltimore, St. Louis, Detroit, and many others...
, Larry Bell
Larry Bell
Larry Bell may refer to:*Lawrence Dale Bell , American industrialist and founder of Bell Aircraft Corporation*Larry Bell , contemporary artist based in Los Angeles, California and Taos, New Mexico*Larry Bell, founder of Bell's Brewery...
, Milton Babbitt
Milton Babbitt
Milton Byron Babbitt was an American composer, music theorist, and teacher. He is particularly noted for his serial and electronic music.-Biography:...
, Ezra Sims
Ezra Sims
Ezra Sims is one of the pioneers in the field of microtonal composition. He invented a system of notation which was adopted by many microtonal composers after him, including Joseph Maneri....
, Roger Bourland
Roger Bourland
Roger Bourland is an American composer, publisher, blogger, and Chair of the UCLA Department of Music.- Biography :Born in Evanston, Illinois, Bourland received a Bachelor of Music in Music Theory and Composition from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, studying with Leslie Thimmig and Randall...
, Michael Horvit, Allen Johnson
Allen Johnson
Allen Kenneth Johnson is a retired hurdling athlete and won Olympic Gold in the 110 metre high hurdles at the 1996 games in Atlanta, Georgia....
, Vincent Plush, Georgy Dmitriev, and John Harbison
John Harbison
John Harris Harbison is an American composer, best known for his operas and large choral works.-Life:...
.
In 2003, he formed the Radnofsky Saxophone Quartet, which performs new works as well as works from the standard repertoire. He has recorded for the Teldec
Teldec
The Teldec is a German record label in Hamburg, Germany. Today the label is a property of Warner Music Group.-History:...
, Boston Records, New World
New World Records
New World Records is a record label based in New York City specialising in American music. The label was established in 1975 through a Rockefeller Foundation grant to produce a 100 disc anthology covering 200 years of American music....
, Mode, Albany-Troy, and Philips labels. Among his notable students are Daniel Bennett
Daniel Bennett (saxophonist)
Daniel Bennett is an American saxophonist who lives in Manhattan. Daniel Bennett is best known for his "folk jazz" music. Bennett contends that his music is "a mix of jazz, folk, and twentieth century minimalism." Jon Garelick of the Boston Phoenix wrote, The music has given them a broad...
, Greg Banaszak
Greg Banaszak
Greg Banaszak is an American saxophonist. He specializes in European classical music, but also performs jazz.He serves on the faculties of the Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music...
, Chien-Kwan Lin
Chien-Kwan Lin
Chien-Kwan Lin is a classical saxophonist and teacher.-Teaching positions:Since 2002, Lin has served as Assistant Professor of Saxophone at the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York....
, and Randall Hall
Randall Hall
Randall Burgess Hall is a saxophonist, composer, and improviser. Classically trained with the likes of Claude Delange, Hall has become one of the leading performers and composers for avant-garde music for saxophone...
.