Carey Bell has been the San Francisco Symphony's Principal Clarinet and occupant of the William R. and Gretchen B. Kimball Chair since 2007. He has held principal positions with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Syracuse Symphony, and he has served as acting principal clarinet of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra and guest principal clarinet with The Philadelphia Orchestra.
As a soloist with SFS, Mr. Bell has performed the clarinet concertos of Mozart and Nielsen as well as Bernstein's "Prelude, Fugue and Riffs" and Debussy's "Première Rhapsodie." His summer engagements include the Marlboro Music Festival, Music@Menlo Chamber Music Festival, Oregon Bach Festival and Telluride Chamber Music Festival. A former member of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Mr. Bell has performed with orchestras and chamber ensembles across the Bay Area and has taught at Stanford University. He joined the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in 2016.
Mr. Bell received degrees in performance and composition from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he studied with clarinetist Fred Ormand and composers William Bolcom, Bright Sheng, Michael Daugherty and Evan Chambers. During his time in Michigan, he participated in summer fellowships at Tanglewood and the Music Academy of the West. After graduating, he continued his clarinet training at DePaul University with Larry Combs and was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.
