Professor of Music, Shepherd School of Music

Born in 1944, Michael Webster made his New York recital debut at Town Hall in 1968 with his eminent father, Beveridge Webster, as pianist. The same year he won Young Concert Artists International Competition and succeeded his teacher, Stanley Hasty, as Principal Clarinet in the Rochester Philharmonic, a position he held for twenty years. A multi-faceted career ensued as clarinetist, teacher, arranger, conductor, and composer. Webster has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the 92nd Street “Y”, and the Tokyo, Cleveland, Muir, Ying, Enso, and Dover String Quartets. He directed chamber music societies in Rochester, NY and Ann Arbor, MI and appeared at numerous festivals, including Marlboro, Santa Fe, Norfolk, Chamber Music Northwest, Angel Fire, Bowdoin, Steamboat Springs, Park City, Sitka, Kapalua, Orcas Island, Skaneateles, La Musica di Asolo, Stratford (Ont), Victoria (BC) and Domaine Forget (Que).

As soloist, he appeared with many orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra under Aaron Copland and the Boston Pops under John Williams. His travels have taken him as performer and teacher to most of the 50 states, as well as Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Central and South America, Europe, Japan, China, Australia, and New Zealand. Webster was Acting Principal Clarinet of the San Francisco Symphony, and has served on the clarinet and/or conducting faculties of New England Conservatory, Boston University, University of Michigan, and the Eastman School, from which he earned his three degrees. Currently he is Professor of Music at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and Artistic Director of the Houston Youth Symphony, which has won multiple first prizes in national performance competitions. 

As composer and arranger, Webster has works published by Theodore Presser, International Music Company, G. Schirmer, and Schott. He has specialized in transcribing works for flute, clarinet, and piano, written for the Webster Trio with his wife, flutist Leone Buyse, and pianist Robert Moeling. Webster Trio recordings include “Tour de France” and “World Wide Webster” for Crystal Records. With pianist Chizuko Sawa, the Webster Trio Japan has recorded “Sonata Cho-Cho-san” and “From Vienna to Budapest” for Nami and Camerata. Webster has also recorded for Albany, Arabesque, Beaumont, Bridge, Centaur, CRI, and New World. Very active with the International Clarinet Association, he has played at many ClarinetFests and written a column in The Clarinet Magazine entitled “Teaching Clarinet” since 1998. Michael Webster is a Buffet artist-clinician, performing on Buffet clarinets exclusively.