Stephen Williamson, principal clarinet of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Todd Levy, principal clarinet of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, will join the Bienen School of Music faculty as lecturers beginning September 2022.

Stephen Williamson has served as principal clarinet of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 2011. He was formerly principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic (2013–14) and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra (2003–11). In addition, he has been a frequent guest principal clarinet with the Saito Kinen Festival Orchestra in Japan under Seiji Ozawa. Williamson has served on the faculties of DePaul University, Columbia University, and the Mannes College of Music in New York City, as well as at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, and the Domaine Forget International Music Festival in Québec. He has recorded for the Sony Classics, Telarc, CRI, BMG, Naxos, and Decca labels, and can be heard on numerous film soundtracks. An avid soloist and chamber musician, Williamson has performed extensively in the United States, Europe, and Asia. He has collaborated with such artists as Yo-Yo Ma, Mitsuko Uchida, Jeffrey Kahane, Anne-Marie McDermott, Emanuel Ax, and Meliora Winds; the Aspen, Dorian, and Sylvan wind quintets; and the Brentano, American, Jasper, Brasilia, and Dover string quartets, as well as with his fellow CSO musicians as part of CSO Chamber Players. He received his bachelor’s degree and performer’s certificate from the Eastman School of Music and his master’s degree from the Juilliard School.

Todd Levy is principal clarinet of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra. A four-time Grammy Award-winner, he has performed as a soloist at Carnegie Hall, the Mostly Mozart Festival, with the Israel Philharmonic, and at the White House. An active chamber musician, Levy has appeared with members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, Orion, Ying, Miro, and Miami string quartets. He has been a participant at the Marlboro Music Festival and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and was a member of the Naumburg Award-winning Aspen Wind Quintet. Also in demand as a guest principal clarinetist with the top American orchestras, Levy has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, and frequently for Seiji Ozawa and Riccardo Muti in Japan at the Tokyo Opera Nomori and the Mito Chamber Orchestra. He has recorded for the Avie, Naxos, Boosey and Hawkes, Deutsche Grammophon, Sony, and Decca labels. He has co-edited and recorded the new print/CD editions of the Bernstein Clarinet Sonata and Finzi 5 Bagatelles for Boosey and Hawkes, and compiled the new 2021 Leduc compilation of French Conservatoire pieces. Levy has served on the faculties of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Juilliard School and is an alumnus of the New World Symphony and Marlboro Music Festival.