Clarinetist Richard Shaughnessy has enjoyed great success as a teacher of clarinet and chamber music to students of all ages. Over many years, he has had dozens of students selected to play in many of Boston’s best youth ensembles, including NEC’s Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and Massachusetts Youth Wind Ensemble, The Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, From The Top, and the All-State and District Festivals. His former students have attended Juilliard, The New England Conservatory, The Eastman School, The Boston Conservatory, Northwestern University, and other major professional schools. Some have won scholarships to prestigious summer festivals such as Aspen, The Texas Music Festival, and The Round Top Festival, and some have won concerto competitions. Many are now professional clarinetists, conductors, and teachers who are valued colleagues.
In addition to NEC, Shaughnessy teaches at Boston College and the All Newton Music School, where he is the head of the Wind, Brass, and Percussion Department. He is also on the artistic staff of the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras.
Shaughnessy performs on modern and period clarinets. He has performed with the Handel & Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, and the Arcadia Players on period clarinet. On modern clarinet he freelances with many Boston-based ensembles. He has performed at the Edinburgh Festival, and in Paris and Frankfurt for a Peter Sellars’ production of music by Bach and Kurt Weill for Emmanuel Music. He has been concerto soloist with the Nashua Symphony (now Symphony New Hampshire) where he was principal clarinet. He can be heard on several recordings, including the first recording of Siegfried Karg-Elert’s Jugend (Youth), for flute, clarinet, horn, and piano, Ralf Yusuf Gawlick’s Kinderkreuzzug, and Haydn’s The Creation with Boston Baroque.
B. Mus. Ithaca College, M.Mus. Boston University