Jack Harrison portrait by Melanie Jackson – crayon on reeds
Jack Harrison handing Allan Meyer Copland Clarinet Concerto score
Person
MEYER, Allan
Allan Meyer is a distinguished clarinettist and Jack Harrison‘s most notable student.
In 1990 he succeeded Jack as Principal Clarinet of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.
Allan Meyer was born in 1959 to Bruce Douglas Meyer and Elsie Willis “Willa” Sanders and grew up with his three sisters and brother at 10 South Road Shoalwater, two streets from Safety Bay Road opposite Penguin Island. His father built the house from scratch, hand sawing the jarrah and asbestos.
Allan attended primary school in Safety Bay and learnt the piano from his grandmother, Elsie Maley.
In 1972, thanks to his sister Sue’s suggestion to apply, Allan won a music scholarship to Churchlands Senior High School as part of the inaugural state initiative to bring music to high schools (IMSS). Allan was very anxious about telling his Shoalwater mates he was going up to Perth for high school, especially as the school had the word “Church” in it.
Allan was initially offered the tuba. His father vigorously argued with Churchlands that Allan was “small enough to fit in to a tuba” and suggested instead the clarinet as “Stranger on the Shore” by Acker Bilk was one of Bruce’s favourite records.
Churchlands segregated the music students and they attended virtually all their classes together, making it challenging to make non musical friends and shake the slightly nerdy reputation of being a “muso”.
In a group class of 6 beginner students, Allan initially learnt from Peter Clinch for one year. Peter left the responsibility of Allan’s clarinet playing future to Ted Lewis.
Allan was leader of the Western Australian Schools’ Concert Band overseas tour from June 23 to July 1976 performing in London, Vienna, Innsbruck, Lucerne, Montreux and Zurich as part of the Fifth International Festival of youth and Music and the Twelth International Conference of the International Society for Music Education.
The band was conducted by Ted Lewis and John Embleton and consisted of an amalgamation of largely Perth Modern School and Churchlands music scholarship students and a handful of representatives from other schools.
They made the highly sought after album “Live in Vienna”.
https://www.discogs.com/artist/15436464-The-Western-Australian-Schools-Concert-Band
During high school, Allan lived with his sisters in Perth and went down to Shoalwater on the weekends when he would often go sailing with his father. He learnt to surf.
Allan’s sister Sue Rowbottam is a professional accompanist.
Towards the end of high school, Allan enjoyed a few clarinet lessons with Alan Rule.
All Allan’s applications to tertiary institutions were musical ones, save his last, which was dentistry.
Allan was accepted into the University of Western Australia School of Music (now Conservatorium of Music) in 1977 and completed a four year Honours degree on clarinet performance under the guidance of the Principal Clarinet of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Jack Harrison.
During his University years, Allan performed with the W.A. Arts Orchestra and augmented with the WASO. He won the Margaret Bellos prize for chamber music performing with Kim Harrison (trumpet), Nigel Crocker (trombone) and Marie Bertinazzo (harp).
He attended the Australian Youth Orchestra, National Music Camps and Camp Quaranup Music Camp in his holidays. He befriended cellist Charles Reynolds, with whom he shared a house in Charles Street Leederville, and started running, playing squash, learnt scuba diving and water skiing.
The West Australian Saturday March 1 1980 page 23
Meyer completed a two year Master of Music (Performance) at the University of Western Australia before travelling to London for postgraduate study London having lessons with with John McCaw, Antony Pay and Jack Brymer.
Following his studies, in 1982 Meyer won the the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra job on second clarinet doubling bass.
The second clarinet chair in Adelaide Symphony Orchestra was filled by Canadian Diane Gingras.
In 1984, Allan filled in on Principal Clarinet when Greg Blackman filled in for Don Westlake in the Canberra Wind Soloists.
Allan renovated his house in Largs Bay, learnt woodwork, how to cook and played squash.
After 7 years with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Allan returned to Perth as Principal Clarinet.
In 1990 Meyer was appointed Principal Clarinet of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, succeeding his mentor Jack Harrison who stepped down to bass clarinet toward the end of his retirement in 1993.
Allan has remained Section Principal Clarinet with WASO ever since, becoming one of the orchestra’s longest-serving principal players.
Allan has appeared as soloist in the Masters and Classics Series, Mostly Mozart Series, Symphony under the Stars and WASO Chamber Players. He has been Guest Principal Clarinet with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Allan was appointed the player representative on the WASO Board when Catherine Ferrari was C.E.O.
He was also on the WASO footy team.
In 1997 and again in 1999 Allan initiated the inaugural player job swap for WASO with American clarinettist Michael Sussman.
Allan taught and performed at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. During these visits he also appeared at the Musicorda Festival, Mohawk Trail Concerts and Williamstown Chamber Music Festival.
EChO
Allan has performed with the WASO’s Education Chamber Orchestra and toured the Kimberley with them in 2002.
In 2001 he toured with the ensemble to Sydney to participate in Education workshops with Matthew Barley. He was mugged in Wooloomooloo on his way to the hotel and his clarinets were ripped from his shoulder and stolen. The Kings Cross Police Station retrieved the case from a street sweeper and luckily, aside from his precious mouthpieces, his clarinets were intact.
SOLOIST
Allan has appeared as soloist with WASO on multiple occasions.
Allan has enjoyed performing the Mozart Concerto many times with WASO mostly on basset clarinet. The basset clarinet extension was made for him by well known woodwind technician & woodwind maker Tony Ward in Adelaide.
Most recently Allan performed this conducted by his former student Chris Dragon who is now Resident Conductor of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of the Wyomong and Greensboro Symphony Orchestras.
In 2013 he performed the Copland Clarinet Concerto, a work premiered in Australia by Jack Harrison, who sadly never got to hear him play it, passing away just a month before on 1st April 2013.
PREMIERES
Among Allan Meyer’s notable premieres are:
- the Australian premiere of Richard Mills‘ Concerto for Clarinet and Violin
- the world premiere of Andrew Schultz‘s Maali
- the world premiere of James Ledger’s Clarinet Quintet – Rashomon confessions for clarinet quintet (First performance 13 December 2009, Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House WASO Chamber Players (Allan Meyer – clarinet) . Commissioned by Sydney Opera House with funds provided by Regina Ridge Trust.
- the world premiere of Blackwood by Iain Grandage and Kevin Gillam at the Perth Festival in 2011.
Blackwood holds particular significance because it was commissioned by Jody Harrison and written specifically for Allan Meyer, soprano Sara Macliver and pianist Graeme Gilling, and featuring the art of Brendon Darby.
Alongside his orchestral career, Meyer has been an active chamber musician. In 2012 Allan collaborated with the internationally acclaimed Escher String Quartet and has regularly appeared in chamber music festivals and recital series throughout Australia and overseas. His performances encompass the major works of the classical repertoire, particularly those by Mozart, Brahms and French composers, while also embracing newly commissioned Australian works.
Teacher and mentor
Meyer has had an equally important impact as an educator and has taught at the University of Western Australia Conservatorium of Music and the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.
Many of his students have gone on to professional orchestral careers throughout Australia and overseas, including:
- Ashley William Smith
- Nicola Boud
- Benjamin Pallagi
- Christopher Dragon
- Liam Kinson – is in TAK ensemble in New York:Liam Kinson was born in Perth, Western Australia, in 1988, and began playing the clarinet at the age of 12. He studied at the University of Western Australia, where he holds a Bachelor in Music, Australian National Academy in Melbourne, and Manhattan School of Music where he received his Masters in Contemporary Music. Liam has performed with Wet Ink, International Contemporary Ensemble, Ecce Ensemble, and is a founding member of TAK ensemble. He has collaborated with dancers and actors and artists alike, and thrives on exploring new methods of expression through interdisciplinary means.
- Lachlan Skipworth
- Jarrad Linke A clarinettist originally from Perth, Jarrad is an active freelance musician currently based in Melbourne. He completed a Bachelor of Music in Performance at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University prior to three years of study at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM). He has studied with renowned Australian clarinettists David Thomas, Paul Dean and Allan Meyer and performed in masterclasses with international soloists Michael Collins, Sabine Meyer and Julian Bliss. Jarrad has performed with the West Australian, Queensland and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, as well as numerous Opera Australia productions with Orchestra Victoria including The Phantom of the Opera, Tosca and Lohengrin. Jarrad also took part in Opera Australia’s 2022 National Tour of The Barber of Seville. When Jarrad is not playing his clarinet, you’ll find him studying his Bachelor of Nursing or strolling around with a vintage film camera in his hands.
- Alex Roberts
- Eljo Agenbach
- Jane Pankhurst
- Alex McCracken – clarinettist and educator, active as a performer and teacher.
- Oliver Crofts
- Matthew Kidd – freelance orchestral and chamber musician who has performed with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, West Australian Symphony Orchestra and Perth Symphony Orchestra.
- Geoff Bourgault – freelance orchestral and chamber musician who has performed with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, West Australian Symphony Orchestra and Perth Symphony Orchestra.
- Rosalind Appleby
CASSWA
Beyond performance and teaching, Meyer has played an important role in fostering the clarinet community in Western Australia.
Since its establishment in 2009 he has served as Chairperson of the Clarinet and Saxophone Society of Western Australia. Under his voluntary leadership the organisation has promoted performance opportunities, masterclasses, educational projects and professional networking for clarinettists and saxophonists across the state. https://www.casswa.com/
Allan plays on Buffet Crampon R13 Prestige & RC Prestige clarinets. His preferred mouthpieces are a customised Dan Johnston ‘J’ facing and a Gleichweit 10-2 facing.
Allan has a black tip in Tae kwon-do, enjoys running, swimming, skiing, going to the gym, playing terrible golf and reading. He’s handy around the house and loves gardening, particularly knowledgable about Australian natives and his organic vegetable patch.
Allan is a passionate Dockers supporter.
Jody Harrison and Allan have a son, Max.
Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony (West Australian Symphony Orchestra)
Allan aged 26 at Camp Quaranup, Albany, Western Australia:
Copland Clarinet Concerto — Australian Premiere
COPLAND CLARINET CONCERTO was composed 1947/8.
“The renowned jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman asked Copland to compose a work for him. The result was a two-movement concerto: the first section is one of Copland’s most lyrical and melodious creations; the second is in an all-out jazzy style replete with a glissando or jazz “smear” at the end. The movements are connected by a cadenza for the soloist. Benny Goodman said in an interview, “I always felt good about that commission and about playing the Concerto with Aaron conducting.” Since then, many of the foremost clarinetists worldwide have performed the piece.” https://www.aaroncopland.com/works/clarinet-concerto/
1962
Jack Harrison performed the Australian premiere of Aaron Copland‘s Clarinet Concerto with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, presented by the Australian Broadcasting Commission.
MUSIC – 3pm MARCH 11 1962 Fremantle
There will be an interesting programme at the W.A. Symphony Orchestra’s free concert in the Fremantle Town Hall at 3pm tomorrow. The orchestra and clarinettist Jack Harrison will perform a concerto by Aaron Copland and the orchestra programme will include Rossini’s “Thieving Magpie” Overture, and arrangement of Bach choral prelude and Mussorgsky’s “A Night on the Bare Mountain”. The West Australian Saturday March 10 1962
MARCH 14th 1963
An outstanding programme by the Perth Sinfonietta will be given in Winthrop Hall at 1.10pm next Thursday under the baton of Verdon Williams. This free recital is being presented by the A.B.C. as the first in a weekly series being sponsored by the University during the year. The Sinfonietta will play works by Berger, Copland, Delius and Vaughan Williams. The soloists will be Allyne Tilsed (flute) and Jack Harrison (clarinet).
Those attending the concert include Russian violinist Nelli Schkolniskova and W.A. resident conductor John Farnsworth Hall, who will be soloists and conductor in the first A.B.C. Youth Concert on March 19.
LUNCH MUSIC IS PROMISING – By Sally Trethowan – MARCH 14th 1963
The programme for this year’s free lunch-hour concert series held on Thursdays in Winthrop Hall is even more interesting and varied in type of music and number of performers than last year’s.
If the first concert given yesterday to a large audience by the Perth Sinfonietta, is any indication of the quality, the weekly programmes will be exciting musical experiences and a major contribution to musical life in W.A.
The Perth Sinfonietta always gives us an entertaining, thought-provoking programme. Conductor Verdon William’s introductory comments are instructive, to the point, and do not offend by being too technical or too long. The choice of composers in yesterday’s concert – Berger, Vivaldi, Copland, Delius and Vaughan Williams – leaned heavily towards the moderate, making the Vivaldi Flute Concerto (“The Goldfinch”) a pertinent, pleasant comment on, and exposition of, a more elegant and graceful age. The young flautist, Allyne Tilsed, who has just joined the W.A. Symphony Orchestra has a sureness of tone control which allows the most delicate innuendos without over or under emphasis. In Vivaldi’s “Goldfinch”, flute and strings chattered and trilled in animated conversation, whereas in the Copland Clarinet Concerto, a different symphonic relationship exists between orchestra and clarinet.
Clarinettist Jack Harrison interwove the sure mellowness of tone and bell-like clarity of his instrument into the orchestral texture of the work.
The brief overture of Jean Berger that began the programme and a Delius “Serenade” and Vaughan Williams “Fantasia on Greensleeves” which closed it, are works typical of the individuality of their composers, but have in common the fact that they make light and easy listening.
The West Australian March 15 1963
Allan Meyer performed the Copland in 2013, just after Jack Harrison passed away.