Timothy Paradise

Timothy Paradise joined the SPCO as principal clarinetist in 1977 and has since been a frequent soloist with the orchestra at home and on tour. He performed Copland's Clarinet Concerto on two tours of the West Coast, once under the composer's direction, and the Mozart Clarinet Concerto on a Midwest tour. He was a soloist for the SPCO’s Japan tour and for composer-conducted performances of works by Luciano Berio, John Adams and John Harbison. Other SPCO solo appearances have included concertos by Johann Stamitz, Mozart, Rossini, Weber and Strauss. Paradise gave the U.S. premiere of Meyerbeer's Gli amori di Teolinda and performed the Elliott Carter Clarinet Concerto in the presence of the composer. He collaborated with Aaron Copland on a clarinet version of Copland's Violin Sonata, which he premiered at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall along with the American premiere of Luciano Berio's Sequenza.

Paradise has served as principal clarinet of the Santa Fe Opera, Jackson Hole Festival and Bellingham Festival, where he was also a concerto soloist. He has played recitals in New York, Los Angeles, New Haven, Washington, D.C., Norman, Vancouver, Quebec City, Munich and Geneva. Paradise earned degrees from Pomona College, Yale University and the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Munich, where he was a Fulbright Scholar. Locally, he has been honored with a McKnight Artist Fellowship for Individual Performing Musicians.