Blue Ridge Orchestra's
Conductor and Music Director
Ronald D. Clearfield,
Conductor and Music Director
110 Dan Ledbetter Rd.
Leicester, NC 28748
(828) 683-4425
clearfieldstudios@earthlink.net
Cellist, composer and conductor, Ron Clearfield,
graduated with honors from the New
England
Conservatory of Music studying with
Brazilian
cellist Aldo Parisot and string pedagogues
Joseph Silverstein and Leon Barzan.
Ron attended
the Berkshire Music Festival (Tanglewood)
as a fellowship student for two consecutive
summers. Ron comes from a lineage of
gifted
musicians. His father was a professional
clarinetist who performed with major
orchestras
throughout the United States and Ron's
grandfather,
originally from Russia, was a fine
pianist
and teacher. Ron performs on a beautifully
restored French cello made in 1696.
As a cellist, Ron Clearfield was previously
a member of the Indianapolis Symphony,
the
Miami Philharmonic and the Miami Opera
Orchestra.
He has performed with such pop notables
as
George Benson, Judy Collins, Linda
Ronstadt
and Dionne Warwick as well as with
classical
luminaries Leonard Bernstein, Aaron
Copland,
Erich Leinsdorf and Seiji Ozawa. Ron
was
featured on national TV as solo cellist
for
the A&E Judy Collins Christmas
Special
at the Biltmore Estate.
As a composer, he has released three
critically
acclaimed recordings on the EverSound
record
label: Dream Manifestation, Time on
Earth
and most currently Music in the Silence.
He was recently interviewed on Public
Radio
International on a special program
featuring
his music and has toured the United
States
performing his music on a national
Borders
Books tour. He has scored for numerous
television
and film projects including: Homeward
Journey,
aired on PBS and the film Opening Doors
Within,
awarded first prize at the Fort Lauderdale
Film Festival.
As a conductor, Ron Clearfield studied conducting
with Leon Barzan while at the New England
Conservatory of Music and continued his studies
with Robert Hart Baker, Joseph Eger and Daniel
Meyer. He served as Associate Conductor with
the Miami Beach Sinfonia from 1980-1988.
Ron has been the Music Director and Conductor
of the Blue Ridge Orchestra since 1999 and
also Conductor of the Asheville Youth Orchestra
since 1994. Just recently, Ron was appointed
as conductor of the UNC-Asheville Chamber
Symphony
--updated 5-12-07
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Michael Jones at 650-0948 or
Ron Clearfield at 683-4425
