David Krakauer is among the world’s most acclaimed clarinetists in klezmer, jazz, and classical music. He was one of the leading protagonists in the rediscovery of klezmer in the 1990s, first as a member of the pioneering ensemble The Klezmatics and as part of the Radical Jewish Culture movement initiated by John Zorn, and later as a composer, bandleader, and soloist. He has performed with ensembles and artists such as Cologne’s WDR Big Band, the Kronos Quartet, Emerson String Quartet, Quatuor Debussy, Marin Alsop, Leonard Slatkin, JoAnn Falletta, George Tsontakis, Wlad Marhulets, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Itzhak Perlman, Uri Caine, and Dawn Upshaw. Among his highly acclaimed recordings are Osvaldo Golijov’s The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind, Paul Moravec’s Tempest Fantasy, and the klezmer album The Twelve Tribes, which was named Jazz Album of the Year at the German Record Critics’ Award. David Krakauer can also be heard in Danny Elfman’s score for the Ang Lee film Taking Woodstock. He has collaborated with Kathleen Tagg on a number of works, including a concerto for klezmer clarinet and orchestra, The Fretless Clarinet, the score for Eric Steel’s 2020 film Minyan, the genre-crossing project Mazel Tov Cockail Party!, and the immersive multimedia program Breath & Hammer, last seen at the Pierre Boulez Saal in 2022. He is on the clarinet and chamber music faculties of Manhattan School of Music, Mannes School of Music, and Bard College.