Anthony McGill

Clarinetist Anthony McGill enjoys a dynamic solo and chamber music career and is principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic—the first African American principal player in the organization’s history. He is the recipient of the 2020 Avery Fisher Prize and was named Musical America’s 2024 Instrumentalist of the Year. American Stories, his album with the Pacifica Quartet, was nominated for a Grammy.

McGill appears as a soloist with top orchestras, including the New York and Los Angeles philharmonics, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and the Baltimore, BBC Scottish, Boston, Chicago, and Detroit symphony orchestras. He performed alongside Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, and Gabriela Montero at the first inauguration of President Barack Obama.

He serves on the faculty of The Juilliard School and is artistic director for Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program. He holds the William R. and Hyunah Yu Brody Distinguished Chair at Curtis Institute of Music.

In 2020 McGill’s #TakeTwoKnees campaign protesting the death of George Floyd went viral, reaching thousands of individuals. Since 2023 he has partnered with Bryan Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative to organize classical music convenings at EJI’s Legacy sites in Montgomery, Alabama. He is a Backun Artist and performs exclusively on Backun Clarinets.