Carol McGonnell
Clarinet
For clarinetist Carol McGonnell, the word ‘play’ takes center stage. It reaches far beyond the formal act of making music. It starts by acknowledging our natural state; open, receptive, awake, alive.
With these as innate qualities, music is an unfolding experience in which we can exist in the exquisite present moment. A shift from observing to becoming, moving together into a space of heightened energy. In this sense, play is a path to be actively followed by listeners and performers alike. Play is about bravery and ferocious curiosity.
Carol is known for making music with exuberance, using her sheer limitless control over the instrument as well as her whole body in service of musical storytelling. She sees the score as a gateway to the inner life of the composer.
Cutting-edge curiosity
Carol co-founded Argento New Music Project in 2000. The ensemble plays all over the world and has made award winning recordings. It was dubbed ‘An essential source of adventurous new music’ by Alex Ross of The New Yorker. Carol has premiered dozens of new works, ranging from solo pieces to clarinet concertos, by composers such as Helmut Lachenmann, Tristan Murail, Katharina Rosenberg, Philippe Hurel, Kevin Volans, and Erin Gee.
One treasured collaboration has been with Ann Cleare. Ann, still studying at IRCAM, immediately composed a piece for contrabass clarinet with electronics after hearing Carol perform a recital in Paris. Subsequent compositions were a solo piece, a mini concerto for clarinet and ensemble, and a concerto for contrabass flute, contrabass clarinet and symphony orchestra. Ann Cleare is currently writing a clarinet quintet for Carol and the JACK Quartet.
Fresh classical music
Carol’s appetite for discovery stems from the earliest days of studying the clarinet. To overcome self-consciousness on stage she would bring to mind her teenage musical hero, violinist Itzhak Perlman, and imagine how he would play clarinet. She would go on to channel others, very often just imagining the composers playing themselves. It was during a chamber performance in her twenties with Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto that she had the experience of wholly connecting to herself and her own musical instincts – and she hasn’t looked back since.
The American public broadcaster PBS recently released a documentary in which Carol, Kirill Gerstein, Leila Josefowicz and Paul Watkins are featured performing Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. The documentary celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Santa Fe Chamber Festival.
Carol recently produced a video performance of Steve Reich’s New York Counterpoint for the opening of the new home of the New York Philharmonic, playing together with 10 other clarinetists including Anthony McGill (New York Philharmonic), Ricardo Morales (Philadelphia Orchestra) and Anton Rist (the Met). It was also used to launch Apple Classical at the Apple Store on 5th Avenue. Her solo version, playing all 11 parts, was deemed ‘mandatory viewing’ by Bachtrack.
Beyond performing
In association with the National Gallery of Ireland, Carol has been artistic director of Music for Museums, bringing Irish performers to places such as the Isabella Stewart Gardner in Boston, J.P. Getty in Los Angeles and the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. Invited to the National Gallery in Dublin were performers such as Dawn Upshaw, The Irish Baroque Orchestra, The Metropolitan Museum Artists in Concert, Jennifer Frautschi and Jeremy Denk.
Carol has been artistic director of New Ireland New Music, and curator of the Kilkenny Festival and the Argento New Music Project. Carol is a board member of the Louth Contemporary Music Society.
Carol was a jury member for the Eurovision Young Musician Competitions in 2012 and 2014 and the Freemason Young Musician of the Year in 2018.
A life in music
Carol has performed chamber music with musicians including the Danish String Quartet, the Modigliani Quartet, the Elias String Quartet, Jonathan Biss, Kit Armstrong, Simon Crawford-Phillips, Midori, Daniel Hope, Barbara Hannigan and Frederica Von Stade.
Invitations from festivals have taken Carol from Mecklenburg Festival (Germany) to Suntory Hall Chamber Music Garden (Japan), from Djúpid Festival (Iceland) to US festivals such as Aspen, Santa Fe, Marlboro, Spoleto and the Sounds French Festival. In Ireland, Carol is a frequent guest at festivals such as Dublin International Chamber Music Festival, West Cork Chamber Music Festival, Killaloe Music Festival and the Kilkenny Festival.
Carol was trained at the Queen’s University of Belfast, Ireland, being exposed to a vast array of modern music in addition to the western classical canon and world music. During further studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt, Germany, she performed some of her first professional gigs performing and recording with Ensemble Modern.
Carol was granted a full scholarship from the Manhattan School of Music to study with Charles Neidich, receiving her Masters in 2001.
At home at Carnegie Hall
Immediately following her studies in New York City, she joined the Carnegie Hall Workshops, collaborating with talented peers in addition to Elliot Carter, Oliver Knussen and Michael Tilson Thomas. This exposure led to many invitations by the venue, for instance as soloist for Nico Muhly’s Carnegie debut, and performances as a member of the Zankel Band – a handpicked band of soloists, working with renowned conductors.
Carol was soloist in John Adam’s In Your Ear Festival at Carnegie Hall and in Los Angeles’s Monday Evening Concerts, curated by Esa-Pekka Salonen. Many performances with groups such as The Knights Chamber Orchestra, the Ulster Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and Argento brought Carol as a soloist to major venues, in both classical and contemporary music. She was invited to play at Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series in 2009.
Onstage and beyond
One of the most impactful experiences for Carol was being part of the inaugural group of musicians selected to help create Ensemble Connect, a fellowship program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education. It prepares extraordinary young professional classical musicians for careers that combine musical excellence with teaching, community engagement, advocacy, entrepreneurship, and leadership.
Out of the program development grew Decoda, the affiliate ensemble of Carnegie, of which Carol remains a member. Her Trio Ariadne (with Elizabeth Joy Roe, piano and Sæunn Thorsteinsdottir, cello) was selected to represent Carnegie Hall at the Green Music Center Sonoma as ensemble-in-residence for a period of 2 years.
Carol gave masterclasses and workshops at Columbia, Harvard and Princeton University, the Curtis Institute, the Guildhall School of Music and the Royal Scottish Conservatoire, among others. In 2020, she received her Doctorate of Musical Arts from the State University of New York. Carol McGonnell was formerly a teacher at the Music Advancement Program at Juilliard and continues there on faculty for contrabass clarinet.
Carol McGonnell is grateful to the Music Capital Scheme in supporting the acquisition of her contrabass and basset clarinet.