THE CLIFF COLNOT RESIDENCY

Summer events that will benefit you
as you prepare for your career.

• CLIFF NOTES: Lunches and a Workshop Session with Conductor & Arranger, Cliff Colnot
• NEW THIS YEAR: Individual Career Advising Sessions with Cliff Colnot

Open to all students in the Jacobs School of Music

CLIFF NOTES SESSIONS: Sign Up Here >
Once you're in the Career Portal, click on "Events" then "Workshops"
You bring your thoughts and ideas and we'll bring the sandwiches from Jimmy John's!

• Thursday, June 18: 12-1:30pm
  SCORE STUDY (Daphnis & Chloe)
  Effectively studying music in preparation for performance.
  JS415 in the East Studio Building
  
  
• Thursday, June 25: 12-1:30pm
  AUDITIONS
  Understanding the audition process for orchestras, summer festivals, and other projects.
  JS415 in the East Studio Building
  
  
• Thursday, July 2: 12-1:30pm
  THE ENTREPRENEURIAL MUSICIAN
  Taking advantage of opportunity in a fast-changing cultural landscape.
  JS415 in the East Studio Building
  
  
• Thursday, July 9: 12-1:30pm
  SELF-REHEARSING CHAMBER MUSIC
  Making the most of your valuable time.
  MA405 in the Music Annex
  
  
• Thursday, July 16: 12-1:30pm
  INTONATION TECHNIQUES
  The secrets and surprises of great ensemble intonation.
  JS415 in the East Studio Building

CLIFF COLNOT ADVISING DATES: Sign Up Here >
Once you're in the Career Portal, click on "Events" then "Workshops"
All sessions are at Jumpstart Central, MU011, in Merrill Hall

• Wednesday, June 17, 2-4 pm
• Friday, June 26, 2-4 pm
• Tuesday, June 30, 2-4 pm
• Wednesday, July 1, 2-4 pm
• Tuesday, July 7, 2-4 pm
• Wednesday, July 8, 2-4 pm
• Wednesday, July 15, 2-4 pm

See you there!
Team JumpStart

CLIFF COLNOT, Conductor and Arranger

In the past decade Cliff Colnot has emerged as a distinguished conductor and a musician of uncommon range.

One of few musicians to have studied orchestral repertoire with Daniel Barenboim, Colnot has served as assistant conductor for Barenboim’s West-Eastern Divan Workshops for young musicians from Israel, Egypt, Syria, and other Middle Eastern countries. Colnot has also worked extensively with Pierre Boulez and has served as assistant conductor to Boulez at the Lucerne Festival Academy. He regularly conducts the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), with whom he recorded Richard Wernick’s The Name of the Game for Bridge Records, and he collaborates regularly with the internationally acclaimed contemporary music ensemble eighth blackbird and the Pacifica String Quartet. Colnot has been principal conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s contemporary MusicNOW ensemble since its inception and is principal conductor of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, an orchestra he has conducted since 1994. Colnot also conducts Contempo at the University of Chicago and orchestras at Indiana University. He has appeared as a guest conductor with the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Utah Symphony.

Colnot is also a master arranger. His orchestration of Shulamit Ran’s Three Fantasy Pieces for Cello and Piano was recorded by the English Chamber Orchestra. For the chamber orchestra of the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, Colnot has arranged the Adagio from Mahler’s Symphony No. 10, Schoenberg’s Pelleas and Melisande (both published by Universal) and Manuel De Falla’s Three Cornered Hat. For ICE and Julia Bentley, Colnot arranged Olivier Messiaen’s Chants de Terre et de Ciel for chamber orchestra and mezzo-soprano, also published by Universal. For members of the Yellow Barn Music Festival, Colnot arranged Shulamit Ran’s Soliloquy for Violin, Cello, and Piano, to be published by Theodore Presser. Colnot recently re-orchestrated the Bottesini Concerto No. 2 in B Minor for Double Bass, correcting many errors in existing editions and providing a more viable performance version. He has also been commissioned to write works for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Percussion Scholarship Group. His orchestration of Duke Ellington’s New World Coming was premiered by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Daniel Barenboim as piano soloist in 2000, and Colnot also arranged, conducted, and co-produced the CD Tribute to Ellington featuring Barenboim at the piano. He wrote music for the MGM/UA motion picture Hoodlum and has written for rock-and-roll, pop, and jazz artists Richard Marx, Phil Ramone, Hugh Jackman, Leann Rimes, SheDaisy, Patricia Barber, Emerson Drive, and Brian Culbertson.

Colnot graduated with honors from Florida State University and in 1995 received the Ernst von Dohnányi Certificate of Excellence. He has also received the prestigious Alumni Merit Award from Northwestern University, where he earned his doctorate. In 2001 the Chicago Tribune named Cliff Colnot a “Chicagoan of the Year” in music, and in 2005 he received the William Hall Sherwood Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Arts. He has studied with master jazz teacher David Bloom, has taught jazz arranging at DePaul University, film scoring at Columbia College and currently teaches advanced orchestration at the University of Chicago. As a bassoonist, he was a member of the Lyric Opera Orchestra of Chicago, Music of the Baroque, and the Contemporary Chamber Players.

“Cliff Colnot conducted the excellent International Contemporary Ensemble in an alluring performance.”              —  Anthony  Tommasini, New York Times

“To every score, conductor Cliff Colnot brought a dedication, virtuosity, and intensity of feeling new music needs but doesn’t often receive.”                                                              —  John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune

“Everywhere [in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1] were signs of meticulous preparation and keen stylistic acuity.”  —  Michael Cameron, Chicago Tribune