Photography by Lillian Helen Graham
Biographical Information
Todd Brunel is an innovative, critically acclaimed clarinetist and saxophonist, who performs extensively as a crossover classical and jazz musician. In the world premiere event 'From Requiem to Renewal' at Boston College, Eileen Pfeiffer of the Boston Globe hailed: "Clarinetist Todd Brunel and pianist Synthia Sture played with tremendous virtuosity and heart". He has premiered works by numerous composers including: George ‘Skip’ Brunner, Claudio Gabriele, Matthew D. Harder, Rick Sowash, Ara Sarkissian, Jose Louis Hurtado, Johnny Reinhard, Vuk Kulenovic, Etienne Rolin, Pamela Watson, and Vache Sharafyan. “The perfect control over the instruments allowed the soloists the subtle at times almost jocular transition through different styles and genres.” Musical Horizons Magazine.
As a jazz/improvisational performer and composer, he produces The Vortex Series for New and Improvised Music, a 2010-11 grant recipient from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Cambridge Arts Council and the Somerville Arts Council. The Vortex Series has also been chosen as the jazz "pick of the week" in the Boston Phoenix and the Boston Globe. Among his hundreds of performances at clubs and social establishments, Brunel and his groups have played at the Montreal Jazz Festival, the Boston Jazz Festival, The Bowery Poetry club, The National Black Arts Festival, Mobius, The International Woodwind Festival, Preservation Jazz Hall, Ryles, CBGB’s Gallery, The Boston Music Festival and the American Microtonal Festival under the direction of Johnny Reinhard.
As a classical freelance musician, Mr. Brunel's busy performance schedule includes ALEA III, the Boston Chamber Ensemble, the Lexington Symphony, the Bulgarian Virtuosi, the Waltham Symphony, the Claflin Hill Symphony and the Chagall Performance Art Collaborative. Brunel has made guest appearances at: Carnegie Hall, the SEAMUS Festival, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, the Boston Conservatory, The Longy School of Music, The Academy of Music Dance and Art in Plovdiv, Bulgaria and The Winter Sun Music Festival with legendary pianist, Daltin Baldwin. He has recorded for the PBS documentary, "Paul Robeson, Here I Stand" and for several independant films.
He is a founding member of the Circadian Rhythm Kings (2008 Innova Recordings), Musaner, Benny and Beyond with pianist Joe Reid, the Palimpest Ensemble, Sonic Sandbox, Neon Juju, the Lilli Lewis Project, and the Vortex Other Dimension Ensemble. His work with conductor and composer Lawrence ‘Butch’ Morris includes Conductions recorded in NYC and performances in Boston, with the New England Skyscraper.
He is a member of the Meltdown Incentive, and collaborates frequently with Garrisons Fewell's Variable Density Ensemble, pianist Peter Cassino, the Jeff Robinson Trio, singer songwriter Andy Pratt and is often a featured artist at Rob Chalfen's Subconscious Café Series. He has premiered his own compositions at the Stein Chamber Music Festival, the 2010 MLK Celebration for the Town of Lexington, MA, the Longy School of Music, Boston University and the Electric Rainbow Coalition Festival at Dartmouth College. His website: www.clarinetconspiracy.com is dedicated to an innovative approach to clarinet playing in the 21st Century.
Mr. Brunel received an MM from the Brooklyn College Conservatory, where he was a teaching assistant to Paul Shelden. He holds a BM from the Boston Conservatory of Music, where he studied clarinet with Atilio Poto. Other clarinet teachers have included Pasquale Cardillo, Thomas Martin and Jonathan Cohler. He has pursued additional graduate study at the Longy School of Music as a scholarship recipient, the University of North Texas and Boston University. He was a scholarship participant at the Aspen Music Festival and has studied composition with Sam Headrick and jazz improvisation with Bob Mover and Peter Cassino.
