Brian Walsh is a musician who is interested in sound and communication, regardless of genre. He specializes in performance on the clarinet and bass clarinet. He seeks to redefine the role of these instruments in contemporary classical music, jazz, and world music. Mr. Walsh is a graduate of the California Institute of the Arts.
Mr. Walsh frequently performs with such diverse groups as Wild up Modern Music Collective, gnarwhallaby, The New Century Players, The California E.A.R. Unit and is a member of Creative Underground Los Angeles. He also leads Walsh Set Trio, a jazz ensemble focusing on the performance of his own compositions. Performances have taken Walsh to Japan, Canada, Italy, England, the Netherlands, Iceland, and all over the United States.
As a member of the contemporary music ensemble gnarwhallaby, Mr. Walsh gave the premier of Nicholas Deyoe’s Lullaby 4 at Carnegie Hall. Their Carnegie Hall performance was described as “startlingly versatile” by the New York Times. Mr.Walsh was also recently a guest artist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella new music series at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Walsh has premiered pieces by Luigi Nono, Anne LeBaron, Girard Grisey, James Newton, Andrew Nathaniel McIntosh, Tom Johnson and many others. Past collaborators have included Peter Maxwell Davies, Meredith Monk, Gavin Bryars, Bobby Bradford, Nels Cline, Bright Eyes, San Fermin, James Newton, and Muhal Richard Abrams.