Jeff Reilly

Canada

The latest editions of Légère reeds - the European cut for bass clarinet and the American cut for tenor sax - are amazing reeds that play with the response, tone and flexibility of some of the world's finest cane reeds. I heartily endorse them for players of any level.

“Reilly’s performance is gripping: his use of extended techniques add moments of sudden rawness to a beautifully full tone that masterfully conveys the image of the lone prophet Jeremiah”. The Classical Review, UK (re: ECM release of Lamentations of Jeremiah)

“Jeff Reilly is to me one of the finest examples of the consummate musician. Performer, composer, producer, and a person of profound intellectual curiosity and deep awareness of the visible and the invisible, he is the kind of person that everyone crossing his path feels fortunate for the encounter” composer Christos Hatzis

ECM recording artist Jeff Reilly leads a multifaceted life as a bass clarinetist, composer, conductor, a CBC radio music producer, and as a radio documentary maker. The pure emotional accessibility of his rich, lyrical performance and compositional style reminds us that extended techniques, avant-guard sonorities and complex forms of notation can be executed within the service of musicality and sensitivity.

Receiving a Juno nomination, an ECMA award as well as 6 ECMA nominations, his approach to music blurs any simple distinctions between improvisation and composition, and does so with a musicality and sensitivity that reminds us that such distinctions are moot.

He has performed with choirs, orchestras and chamber groups, in music festivals, cathedrals and concert halls around the world – with his trio Sanctuary he has performed in Shanghai, Paris, London, New York, St Petersburg, Moscow, Riga, Toronto, Montreal and more. Jeff Reilly also composes, records, tours and performs with the jazz drummer Jerry Granelli, the British duo of bassist Barry Guy and violinist Maya Homburger, the Halifax based Upstream Orchestra, as well as the Subtext and Suddenly ensembles also based in Halifax. Jeff Reilly has commissioned large scale performance works that feature bass clarinet from Eriks Esenvalds, David Mott, Peter-Anthony Togni, Christos Hatzis and Barry Guy.

Jeff Reilly lives in Halifax with his wife and twin daughters, and is the CBC senior producer of music production for the Atlantic Region.

Recent notable performances as a bass clarinetist

- Sanctuary with Barry Guy and Maya Homburger. 2020 Open Waters Festival of New and
Improvised music in Halifax January 2020
- Soloist with Symphony Nova Scotia: Performing the bass clarinet concerto IHI, by the British
composer Barry Guy. 2020 Open Waters Festival of New and Improvised music in Halifax
- To Dream of Silence: a performance at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival. With featured guest Tom Allen. July 2019
- To Dream of Silence: a 60 minute work for solo bass clarinet and 11 piece ensemble. Premiered at the January, 2019 Open Waters Festival of New and Improvised music in Halifax.
- Soloist with Symphony Nova Scotia: Performing the bass clarinet concerto Extreme Unction, by Canadian Composer Christos Hatzis at the 2019 Open Waters Festival of New and Improvised music in Halifax
- Artist in residence: Banff Centre of the Arts and Creativity. 3 week stay at the Banff Centre writing new works for the duo Blackwood. October 2018
- Sanctuary and Blackwood: extensive fall Maritime tour with my trio Sanctuary and then my duo Blackwood. 2017
- Blackwood: Church of the Holy Trinity feature performance, Toronto August, 2017
- Solo concerto performance: 13 Strings Chamber Orchestra. Two concertos for bass clarinet and strings by Christos Hatzis and Peter-Anthony Togni June 2017
- Duel of the Duos: performance of Blackwood with Stealth duo at Wilfred Laurier University Numus Concert Series event. March 2017.
- Faculty Banff Centre: faculty member at the Banff Centre independent studies program. Performed a concert at Ralston hall with Blackwood. October 2016
- Blackwood: fall Maritime tour with my duo Blackwood. 2016
- Juno awards showcase performance: performed at the 2016 classical music showcase in Calgary with Timothy Shantz and members of Luminous voices. Movements from the Juno nominated performance of Responsio.
- Responsio: tour and record release in Halifax and Montreal (Musee des Beaux-Arts) and Calgary (with Luminous voices) Spring 2016
- Camerata Singers, Halifax. Feature performance and recording with the Halifax Camerata Singers. Evening Prayer CD release. 2015
- Sanctuary trio tour and record release of Estuary CD. Fall 2015
- Responsio: Tour and recording of a 50 minute work by Peter-Anthony Togni for solo bs. Clar. And vocal quartet throughout Nova Scotia with vocalists Suzie Leblanc, Andrea Ludwig, Charles Daniels, John Potter - August 2014
- Orgue et Colours Festival Montreal: Feature concert with the Sanctuary Trio October, 2013
- Ottawa Chamber Music Festival: Feature concert with the Sanctuary Trio July 2013
- Scotiafestival of Music: Feature performance of the Berg Concerto for Piano, Violin & 13 Winds May 2013
- Waterloo Chamber Players: Featured soloist with the Waterloo, Ont. Chamber players orchestra performing Peter Togni’s “Illuminations” for bass clar and strings as well as the solo english horn part (on bass clarinet) in Aaron Copeland’s Quiet City March 2013
- Winnipeg New Music Festival: Featured soloist at the opening night of the festival performing Peter Togni’s Lamentations of Jeremiah, a concerto for solo bass clarinet and chamber choir with the Elmer Iseler Singers. Feb. 2013