Ronald James Klimko

Ronald James Klimko
Born	(1936-12-13)December 13, 1936 Lena, Wisconsin, U.S.
💀Died	March 18, 2012(2012-03-18) (aged 75) McCall, Idaho, U.S.March 18, 2012(2012-03-18) (aged 75)
🎓 Alma mater	Milton College University of Wisconsin–Madison
💼 Occupation	bassoonist, author, composer, teacher, performer

Ronald James Klimko (December 13, 1936 – March 18, 2012) was an American bassoonist, author, composer, teacher, and performer.

He was editor of The Double Reed, the publication of the International Double Reed Society, for thirty years (1982–2012) and a professor of music at Lionel Hampton School of Music, University of Idaho, for thirty-two years (1968–2000).

Klimko played bassoon in the Spokane Symphony for 20 years from 1969 to 1990. He also played bassoon with the Yakima Symphony, Walla Walla Symphony, Mid-Columbia Symphony, and LaGrande Symphony. He gave master classes in bassoon at Lawrence University, Ithaca College, and several other schools. He was conductor of the Spokane Youth Orchestra for one year.

While at the University of Idaho, he received three sabbatical leave grants. On the first leave, he was in London, England, from January to August 1976, to study with world-renowned bassoonists, William Waterhouse and Cecil James. On the second leave, he was in Paris, France, from September 1983 to August 1984, to study French bassoon privately with Maurice Allard of the Paris Opera and Paris Conservatory. On his third leave, he was Visiting Professor of Bassoon at the University of Colorado, Boulder, from 1990 to 1991. Until his death, he was a member of the North American Wind Quintet, where he played the French bassoon.

Klimko was the author of the book Bassoon Performance, Practices, and Teaching in the United States and Canada (1971, rev. 1992), the first such study of its kind for double reed players. He was also the editor of The Double Reed, the professional publication of the International Double Reed Society, from 1982 until his death in 2012. He regularly wrote a column and reviews of recordings for that publication. In 2011, he was honored by the IDRS with a lifetime Honorary Membership. He traveled around the world to visit with and interview bassoonists for publication in the Double Reed.

His original compositions are archived at the University of Idaho. In his early years of composing, Klimko was interested in choral music and opera. He composed an opera to the Huxley work Brave New World, but it could not be published or performed due to copyright restrictions. He also wrote works for woodwind instruments. One of his compositions, Passages, for clarinet and bassoon, was performed at the concert for the celebration of his life held in Moscow, Idaho in June 2012.

In retirement, he and his family lived in McCall, Idaho, from 2003 to 2012, where he was President and Director of the McCall Chamber Orchestra. Every year for the last several years he organized a summer concert of the McCall Bassoon Band, now called the Ron Klimko Bassoon Band. Klimko arranged many popular and classical works for bassoon quintet and bassoon band. Following a decline in health in 2011, he and his second wife, Kathryn George, relocated to Issaquah, Washington in order to be nearer to children and better medical care. In 2011 and 2012, he played in the Sammamish Symphony and the Microsoft Orchestra. Klimko's last performance was Dvořák's New World Symphony with the Microsoft Orchestra.

Klimko died on March 18, 2012, at the Brundage Mountain ski resort in McCall, Idaho.

The Ronald J. Klimko Memorial Endowed Scholarship was established by his colleagues and friends and gives scholarships to music students at the University of Idaho.

Works (Partial list)

• Quintet for Woodwinds, op. 15 (1965)
• Children's Suite for Small Orchestra (1958)
• Sonata for Violin and Piano (1969)
• Canonic Variations for Chamber Orchestra, op. 13
• String Quartet I (1963)
• Two Songs from the Egyptian "Book of the Dead" for SATB, a cappella (1956–57)
• Opera to "Brave New World." He wrote this but could not get permission to perform it.
• "An Experiment in Multiple Sonorities" for woodwind quintet.
• "Vocalise."
• Songs and Short Popular Pieces
• "Missa Brevis"
• "A Child's Garden of Weeds." Two suites for woodwind quintet. Op. 12. (before 1968)
• "Festival Overture" for Orchestra.
• "Two Choruses, from 'The Hollow Men'" (T.S. Eliot) for Mixed Chorus, Piano, and Harp. Op. 9 (no date found).
• "The Highway: A Ballet based upon Strindberg's Final Drama 'The Great Highway." 1968.
• "Echoes: A Dance Cantata for Mixed Chorus, Orchestra and Electronic Sounds." 1966–1967.
• Arrangement for Woodwind Quintet: Mozart. Finale to Quartet No. 14, in G-major
• Arrangement: J.S. Bach, Prelude and Fugue in C-major for four bassoons and optional contrabassoon
• Arrangement: Andrew Lloyd-Weber, "Phantom of the Opera," for bassoon and other instruments
• Arrangement: "Battle Hymn of the Republic," for bassoon band
• Arrangement: "Stars and Stripes Forever," for bassoon band
• "How Did You Die?" for tenor and wind quintet (1998)
• Pastorale for Band
• "The Endless Road," for medium low voice and piano (1957)
• Rhapsody in E-major for Piano (1956)
• Studies in Serial Counterpoint for Various Instruments, Op. 2 (about 1968)
• "Lament," for tenor, horn, flute and harp
• "Remember Now Thy Creator," anthem for choir and organ (1966)
• "A Canticle of Despair," for SATB and soloists (1956)
• Prelude for Holy Saturday, for SATB, a cappella
• "Centennial Fanfare" (1989), premiered in Spokane, Washington, 1989.
• "Summer Music" (1989)
• "There Will Come Soft Rains," for double choir (1991)
• Ten Songs of Love and Experience: A song cycle for mezzo-soprano and bassoon (2004)
• "Contours," for cello and piano (1967)
• "Nocturne," for clarinet, horn, bassoon, viola, and cello (1968)
• "Judge Me, Oh God," for chorus (1956)
• "Es War ein Traum," op. 6
• "Remember" for bassoon and piano (for Dorothy Barnes) (2004)
• Sonata for bassoon and piano (for Irmgard) (1997)
• String quartet II, op. 4
• "Adagio" for string quartet and English horn; and "Introduction and Allegro" for bassoon and piano (1966)
• "Edgewood Overture." (1963)
• "El Dorado." For male voices. (before 1968)
• Variations and Fugue on a Choral Theme for Piano, op. 1
• Concerto for Chamber Orchestra (1964)
• Sketches
• "Passages: A Theatre Piece for Clarinet and Bassoon." (1976)
• Klimko, Bassoon Performance Practices and Teaching in the United States and Canada, University of Idaho, 1971.
• Apfelstadt, Marc and Klimko, Bassoon Performance Practice, Teaching Materials, Techniques and Methods

References

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