The Memphis Symphony Orchestra has announced that Principal Clarinetist JAMES GOHLSON will retire from that post at the end of the current season following a 39-year tenure with the orchestra. Among the first African-American musicians to be named to a principal chair at an American orchestra, Gohlson began his career with a stint in the United States Navy Band, then joined the MSO as second clarinet in 1972, the same year he came to Memphis to take up a post as professor of clarinet at Memphis State University. He was promoted to principal clarinet at the MSO in 1979. Gohlson had spent his formative years in the Washington, D.C., area, and while in high school attended the summer camp at Michigan’s Interlochen Center for the Arts. He received his bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University, working with the prominent clarinetist Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr, and subsequently earned master’s and doctoral degrees from The Catholic University of America.
Posted April 13, 2012
