Don Byron

There are few artists with the versatility and creative vision of Don Byron (b. 1958). He grew up in the South Bronx where he gained early exposure to Afro-Caribbean music, Klezmer, classical, and jazz. He chose clarinet as a child when his doctor prescribed playing a wind instrument to help alleviate his asthma. His career took off while studying at New England Conservatory, where he gained notoriety in Hankus Netsky’s Klezmer Conservatory Band. Upon graduation, he returned to New York and has since recorded 13 albums as a leader. In addition to being a Pulitzer Prize finalist and a Grammy-award nominee, his composition work won him a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2007 and the Rome Prize in 2009.