ABOUT
Ismail Lumanovski
The extraordinary clarinetist Ismail Lumanovski is a musical force of passion and dynamic virtuosity. Already of international distinction, Lumanovki has launched a major career as a soloist, chamber musician in both classical and cross-over repertoire. His synergistic blend of natural talent and training combines the spirit of folk music with the discipline of classical music.
Lumanovski’s performances throughout the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Korea and China have received critical acclaim. Taking the stage in countless venues including: Rathaus (Vienna), Carnegie Hall (New York City), SummerStage (New York City), Salle Pleyel (Paris), Emirates Palace (Abu Dhabi) American University (Dubai), Expo 2012 Yeosu (Korea), Kartaj (Tunis), Meb Sura Salonu (Ankara) Kenedy Center (Washington), Peter Jay Sharp Theatre (New York), Beijing Concert Hall (Beijing), Berklee Perfomance Center (Boston), Luzerner Saal (Luzern) and Severance Hall (Cleveland), Lumanovski has mesmerized audiences across the globe. He is proud to have participated in the New York début of the Carter Clarinet Concerto with musicians from New Juilliard Ensemble and the Lucerne Festival Academy with Maestro Boulez.
He is the winner of numerous competitions including: 1st prize of the 23rd, 24th and 25th Clarinet Competition of Macedonia, The Juilliard Clarinet Concerto Competition, the International Young Artist Competition in Bulgaria, the National Folk Music Competition in Macedonia and the Andreas Makris Clarinet Competition in Colorado. Additionally, Lumanovski received the “Fine Arts Award” twice at the Interlochen Arts Academy. Most recently, he took 1st prize at the Arriaga Chamber music competition.
His performances have been widely reviewed. The New York Times wrote of his work under Pierre Boulez, “the soloist — the brilliant, fearless young clarinetist Ismail Lumanovski — aligned himself with various instrumental contingents of the large ensemble”.
Born in Bitola, Macedonia, Lumanovski started playing the clarinet at age eight. His United States debut performance of Weber’s First Clarinet Concerto in Interlochen, Michigan was in 2002. He holds a Bachelor of Music Degree and Master of Music Degree from the Juilliard School of Music in New York. He studied with Charles Neidich and Ayako Oshima. While at Juilliard Mr. Lumanovski has been a recipient of the Satterhwaite Scholarship, the Benjamin and Hadassah Michtom Scholarship and the Martha Dwight Douglas Memorial Scholarship.
Professionally, Lumanovski has had the privilege to perform with innumerable extraordinary musicians and orchestras including: Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, The Berklee Middle Eastern Fusion Ensemble, New Juilliard Ensemble, World Youth Symphony Orchestra, The Palestine Youth Orchestra, Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra, Marcel Khalife, Al Di Meola, Husnu Senlendirici, Selloane Nkhela, Zulfu Livaneli etc. Lumanovski is also a master improviser and performer of Macedonian, Turkish and Gypsy music and is presently touring with the renowned New York Gypsy All-Stars, playing throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. This jazz influenced fusion and folk music group exemplifies Lumannovski’s fantastic originality. His sound blends Balkan folk music and western classical music with breathtaking dexterity, musicality and tenacity, lending his style a gratifying complexity. Of his performance with the All-Stars, Lumanovski plays a “blistering series of haunting dance numbers” (Lucid Culture Blog). Lumanovski’s playing may be heard on his recordings with the New York Gypsy All-Stars, Secret Trio, Fall of the Moon, Liquid Clarinets and Love is the Way.
NY Gypsy All-Stars
A Greek bassist ducked into a little bar in New York's Alphabet City, and heard the Eastern Mediterranean and Southern Balkans pouring across the packed room. The clarinet was keening and singing, and he knew every tune. From this blown-away moment of discovery, the New York Gypsy All-Stars sprang, uniting bi-musical virtuosi raised on the lush sounds of Macedonian, Greek, Turkish, and American roots and forged in the halls of the world's best music schools. With composerly ears and a madcap relish for ill and crunky sounds, the quintet of crack musicians tears through the tollgates separating the region's interlocking roots on the long-awaited album of original pieces, Romantech (Traditional Crossroads).
The Secret Trio
Not bound to a single tradition, the musicians of the Secret Trio incorporate original melodies and traditional pieces with the microtonal modes of the Middle East, dance beats of the Balkans , improvisations and influences of Jazz, Rock, Classical and World Music. The intentional exclusion of any percussion has allowed the trio members to create the illusion of a driving rhythm section, by inventing ways to play percussively on musical instruments, which are fundamentally melodic. Thus the"secret" trio may be an allusion to the fact that their arrangements, full of rhythm and drive, harmony and counterpoint, never sound like only three instruments.
