“A prominent open position in the Cleveland Orchestra has been filled,” writes Zachary Lewis in Thursday’s (8/10) Plain Dealer (Cleveland). “Almost exactly two years after the retirement of principal clarinet emeritus Franklin Cohen, the orchestra Thursday announced the appointment of Afendi Yusuf as its new principal clarinet. Yusuf, a native of Ethiopia, begins his tenure with the orchestra and music director Franz Welser-Möst in late September, at the start of the group’s 2017-18 centennial season…. Yusuf landed his seat in Cleveland while still a student at the Conservatory of Music at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, where he earned a professional studies certificate. Yusuf also holds a degree from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, and an artist diploma from the Glenn Gould School in Toronto…. Cleveland may be Yusuf’s first professional position, but he is far from inexperienced. Already he has appeared as a guest principal with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Canadian Opera Company, and the Toronto and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestras. He also has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and played at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont.”
Posted August 11, 2017
Photo of Afendi Yusuf by Elena Sippel
