Tuba
Tony Clements started his tuba studies at the age of 7 in Lindenhurst, New York where he was taught by Julius Rubin, a freelance trombonist, and later by Bill Barber, who was a member of the Gil Evans Band. At the age of 14, he and his parents moved to Modesto, California, where he attended Thomas Downey High School. During his high school years, he was mainly self-taught as the nearest tuba teacher was in San Francisco, 100 miles away. On his 18th birthday, he and his tuba got on the train bound for Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio. (Amtrak would not take two large cartons, so Tony took his tuba and had his clothes shipped later). He spent his freshman year under the tutelage of Gary Tirey. After one year, he returned to his adopted home state, California, and attended the University of the Pacific, in Stockton. There, he studied with Floyd Cooley of the San Francisco Symphony. After a brief stay at Stanislaus State College in Turlock, California, Tony moved to Los Angeles to attend Cal State, Northridge, where he obtained the bulk of his musical training. There, he played tuba in the symphony, bass trombone in the jazz band, euphonium in the wind ensemble and bass trumpet in the brass ensemble. He was the Assistant Conductor of the Wind Ensemble, under Morrell Pfeifle and conducted the tuba ensemble and new music ensemble as well. Tuba-wise, he studied with Tommy Johnson, Jim Self and finally, Roger Bobo. He got his symphonic training with Mehli Mehta in the American Youth Symphony and Myung-Whun Chung and the Young Musicians’ Foundation Debut Orchestra. Along the way, Mr. Clements has spent summers playing at Disneyland and Marriott’s Great America.
In 1981, while playing bass trombone in a long run of “Music Man”, Mr. Clements won the post of Principal Tubist in the San José Symphony, a post he holds today with it’s successor, Symphony Silicon Valley. For many years, in addition to his artistic duties, Mr. Clements was also the orchestra’s Personnel Manager. As a contrast to his hectic schedule during the symphony season, he has played several summer music festivals. Among them are: Music in the Mountains, in Nevada City, California; The Mozart Festival, San Luis Obispo, California; The Cabrillo Festival, Santa Cruz, CA, Sand point, Idaho and the Lake Tahoe Festival.
Tony has played with the San Francisco Symphony, San Diego Symphony, the Oakland Symphony, the Sacramento Symphony, the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, The San Francisco Opera Orchestra, Opera San Jose, Ballet, San Jose and many free-lance orchestras in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is fond of saying, “I’ve played the ‘Nutcracker’ over 600 times.”
He is a popular Bay Area soloist, playing with virtually every college band in the area and many high school groups. In 1988, Mr. Clements toured Japan with the Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo Wind Ensemble as their guest soloist, playing ‘Carnival of Venice’ nine times, earning him the nickname “Tuba-san.” His recent solo appearances have taken him to McMinnville, OR; Little Rock, AR; Providence, RI and Huntingdon, PA. This season, we will be repeating his appearance at Rhode Island College, playing the Broughton Concerto and also soloing with the San Luis Obispo Wind Orchestra. He has also soloed with the Livermore Symphony with the West Coast premiere of the Tuba Concerto by Arutunian.
In 1999, Tony premiered six (!) new pieces for tuba & strings with the San Jose Chamber orchestra, under the baton of Maestra Barbara Day Turner. In his next appearance with the SJCO, he premiered three new pieces for euphonium & strings. In 2008, he performed Ralph Vaughan-Williams’ “Concerto for Bass Tuba” with the Symphony Silicon Valley, and “Concertino for Tuba & Strings” by Arthur Frackenpohl with the Contra Costa Chamber Orchestra.
In 2001, Mr. Clements was appointed the Conductor of the Ohlone Wind Orchestra and was added to the conducting staff of the El Camino Youth Symphony. His teaching positions include Stanford University, Cal State East Bay (where he was Director of Bands for the 2006-07 school year) and Ohlone College, where he directs the 30-member Tuba Union of the Bay Area, a tuba ensemble comprised of local tubists. In September 2007, he was named Director of Bands at Ohlone College, adding the Ohlone Community Band to his duties.
He was a long-standing member of the San Luis Obispo County Symphony. A post he held from 1975, until they fired him a few years back.
In 2008, with enthusiastic support from local brass players, he became the director of the newly formed Silicon Valley Brass Band, who performed their inaugural concert on Nov 2, 2008. From January 2008 until fall 2011, he was the President of Local 153 of the American Federation of musicians.
In his off time (what’s that?) Tony enjoys motorcycling, camping,and playing with his dogs, Ginger & Remy. When not playing his horn, you can figure he’s out riding one of his beloved Harley-Davidsons. Recently, he has added senior softball (for 60+ yr old players). Yes, he is a scrub, but goes out there and plays anyway.