Carey Bell has cultivated a critically acclaimed career as an orchestral and chamber artist, new music advocate, educator, and soloist. He joined the San Francisco Symphony as Principal Clarinet in 2007 and holds the William R. & Gretchen B. Kimball Chair. He has been a featured soloist with the SFS several times, most recently in the West Coast premiere of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s kínēma, with the composer at the podium. Other performances include Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto with Herbert Blomstedt, Debussy’s Premiere Rhapsodie and Bernstein’s Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs with Michael Tilson Thomas, and Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto on three separate occasions with Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jaap van Zweden, and Bernard Labadie.
Carey Bell has been a celebrated musical presence in the San Francisco Bay Area for over two decades. He is a former member of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and has been featured in concerts for Chamber Music SF and San Francisco Performances. He is a founding member of TRIAD, a trio with cellist Emil Miland and pianist Bryndon Hassman. Summer engagements have included Music@Menlo, the Oregon Bach Festival, the Telluride Chamber Music Festival, and the Marlboro Music Festival.
Mr. Bell was born and raised in Eugene, Oregon, where he developed his musical skills as a pianist, singer, and composer. After taking up the clarinet at age 12, he studied for several years with Cindi Bartels. He received several honors as a young clarinetist, including having a composition featured at the National Music Educators Conference and an overture performed by the Oregon Symphony. For his undergraduate work, he studied clarinet with Fred Ormand at the University of Michigan and pursued a composition degree with William Bolcom, Bright Sheng, Michael Daugherty, and Evan Chambers, and he also participated in summer fellowships at Tanglewood and the Music Academy of the West. After graduating, he continued his clarinet studies with Larry Combs, then principal clarinet of the Chicago Symphony.
Mr. Bell spent one year as a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago before winning his first audition for Principal Clarinet of the Syracuse Symphony in 1998. He became Principal Clarinet of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra in 2001, performing at the Opera House for the next six years, including in the North American premieres of Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise and Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre. He also served for two seasons as acting Principal Clarinet of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. Upon joining the San Francisco Symphony, Mr. Bell participated in numerous performances, tours, and recordings under Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas and, more recently, under Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen. Mr. Bell teaches at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and formerly taught at Stanford University. He lives with his husband in beautiful Pacifica.