Keith Clark is an American composer, conductor, and music teacher. He is most famous for starting the Pacific Symphony and the Astoria Music Festival. He works with orchestras around the world. His recordings include performances with many famous orchestras, such as the London Philharmonic, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Slovak State Philharmonic, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, and Pacific Symphony. Right now, he is the Principal Guest Conductor of the Siberian Chamber Orchestra in Omsk, Russia. He also serves as the Principal Conductor of the Amadeus Opera Ensemble in Salzburg. Additionally, he is the Artistic Director of Portland Summerfest's Opera in the Park and the Artistic Director of the Astoria Music Festival.
Early life, family, and education
Clark was born in Illinois and grew up in Ottawa, Illinois, in a farmhouse over 100 years old, located southwest of Chicago. His father, also named Keith, was a high school teacher and musician who traveled across the Midwest to collect folk songs, similar to how composers Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály had done earlier. His father was a close friend of Pete Seeger, whom he met in New York City while recording music for Folkway Records. They later studied at Harvard University together, took classes with poet Robert Frost, played on the same softball team, and spent time with author Truman Capote. His father sometimes performed with Seeger’s band.
Clark’s father converted the family’s large barn into a theater that could seat hundreds of people for public performances. The theater became a well-known place where many famous American folk musicians performed during the 1950s and 1960s, including Seeger, during a time when folk music was growing in popularity. It also hosted artists who had been banned from working due to political issues or who faced discrimination because of their race before the Civil Rights Act.
Clark showed talent for writing music early in life and published his first composition at age 18. At 19, he became an assistant to Roger Wagner, working as an accompanist for the Roger Wagner Chorale while studying at the University of California, Los Angeles. During this time, he lived with composer Roy Harris and rented a room from him.
While working with Wagner, Clark had the chance to collaborate with conductor Zubin Mehta. Mehta encouraged Clark to spend a year studying music in Europe before returning to UCLA to study with him. Following this advice and using Mehta’s connections, Clark studied music composition and conducting with Franco Ferrara in Siena, Italy, and Hans Swarowsky in Vienna, Austria. He then decided to stay in Europe to finish his undergraduate studies in music composition and conducting at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana, where he earned diplomas in both subjects and won the school’s Conducting Prize. Later, he completed graduate studies at the Vienna Music Academy (now the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna) as a Fulbright Scholar and returned to UCLA to earn his Doctorate in music theory.
Career
Clark began his career in the 1960s in Europe, mainly working in Austria. He also guest conducted for orchestras across Europe, including the London Philharmonic. He was very active in Vienna during the 1970s. During this time, several of his operas were performed at the Vienna Festival. He served as Assistant Conductor of the World Youth Orchestra in Vienna under Leonard Bernstein and worked as Principal Guest Conductor of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. With that orchestra, he conducted many concerts, made radio and television broadcasts for BBC in Vienna and other countries, and created several recordings.
In 1978, Clark became director of orchestras and opera conductor at California State University in Fullerton, California. There, he started the Pacific Chamber Orchestra, which was a mix of students, professionals, and community members. In his first year of teaching, he created this group. Under his leadership, the orchestra quickly became a fully professional group with a regular season of concerts and more than three thousand subscribers. In 1988, he left his position after the orchestra’s board asked him to resign.
In 2003, Clark co-founded the Astoria Music Festival in Astoria, Oregon, with soprano Ruth Dobson. He has been the Artistic Director of the festival since 2003. In 2006, he became Principal Guest Conductor of the Siberian State Philharmonic and was named Artistic Director of the Novosibirsk Globus Theatre. At the theatre, he staged the Russian premiere of Bernstein’s West Side Story in 2007. He later conducted the Moscow premiere of the musical in 2010.
Clark has also guest conducted for many orchestras and ensembles, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He is currently Principal Guest Conductor of the Siberian Chamber Orchestra in Omsk, Russia, Principal Conductor of the Amadeus Opera Ensemble in Salzburg, Artistic Director of Portland Summerfest’s Opera in the Park, and Artistic Director of the Astoria Music Festival.