Julian Bliss

Julian Bliss is of British origin and a well known clarinetist (clarinet is the name given to the family of woodwind instruments). It is rightly said that every artist was once an amateur. Since childhood, music fascinated him so he began playing clarinet when he was of four years of age. His first clarinet was Lyons C. Clarinet, which is designed for beginners, especially for the children of four years or younger. Even after being passionate about music, most of the children do not even attempt playing wind instruments, but Bliss was different. Not just different, but also unique.

At the age of 12, when normal children are in class 8th or 9th, Bliss had completed his Post graduation with an Artist’s Diploma degree from the Indiana University in 2001, but they refused to give him his degree. They said he has to first complete his graduation from high school then he will be awarded the label. Education was a formality, as all he had in his blood was music. He performed at the Concerto Soloists Young Artists Competition in 2001 and won it. In the year 2002, he was invited to the royal palace to perform at Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee. Not just this, he also showed his talent at the Queen's 80th birthday. The list of the orchestras with which he has appeared as a soloist is endless. These include BBC Symphony, Orchestre National de France (French National Orchestra in Paris), Sao Paulo Symphony, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields (English Chamber Orchestra in London), etc.

He even performed at the Louvre museum in Paris, with the world’s top classical artists like Julian Rachlin, Joshua Bell, etc. He performed as a chamber musician. The famous documentary, ‘Gifted’ made him its subject and it ran for three seasons. He made his appearance on the Today program and NHK of Japan. He had gained enough fame till now, so when he formed the popular-among-youth group, Julian Bliss Septet, in the year 2010, no introduction was needed. The group used to perform on the music of Benny Goodman, and their first album, which was released in 2012, was “A Tribute to Benny Goodman”.

They did a US tour in 2015 and 2016, and have even performed at the Wigmore Hall and many more places. He has to be given credit for designing the Bliss Clarinet for the musical instrument manufacturer, Leblanc (Leblanc doesn’t work independently now, but has become a brand of Conn-Selmer). His design was durable and produced more amplitude as compared to the normal clarinets.