Kalio Evaldovich Mulberg (* 8 February 1928, Mariupol-8 October 2018) was a Ukrainian clarinetist, head of the department, professor, candidate of art history, Honoured Artist of Ukraine, teacher, laureate of the International Festival of Youth and Students (Moscow, 1957).
He was born into a family of circus performers. His father was a well-known acrobat and circus performer in the USSR who started working on a trampoline (1928). In 1948, Mulberg graduated from the Odesa Musical College (class of P Drozdov), and in 1953 from the Odesa State Conservatory named after Nezhdanova (class of V P Bazylevich). Professor Bazylevych was able to engage the young talented student in creative performance skills and gave him the basis for further research activities.
Life path
In 1948-1964, Kalio Mühlberg was a soloist of the symphony orchestra of the Odesa Opera and Ballet Theatre and the Odesa Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. Kalio Mulberg has been teaching at the Odesa Conservatory since 1952. Since 1963, he has been an associate professor and since 1967, the dean of the orchestra faculty.
Pedagogical and creative work
Professor (1979) K. E. Mühlberg, throughout his creative life, was an active concert performer. Even today, at the age of 80, he is a great promoter of the national performing wind school. He was the first performer of clarinet concertos by R. Kubin, A. Copland, G. Glazunov's Capriccio and various sonatas. He has recorded several gramophone discs. He has given recitals in Leningrad and Kyiv. He is the author of translations of works for clarinet and for woodwind ensembles. As a solo performer, he had a well-developed virtuoso technique. The sound of his clarinet is expressive, the phrases are always rationally balanced. The sound palette, both in timbre and colour, is bright and light. K.E. Mühlberg undoubtedly belongs to the best contemporary world performers, he has collaborated with many composers. Y. Shchurovsky and L. Kolodub dedicated their works to him.
Family.
The son of Kalio Mulberg, Serhiy Mulberg is an Honoured Artist of Ukraine. He is a member of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine. During 2008-2011, he headed the Odesa Theatre and Art School. Since March 2011, he has been the Deputy General Director of the Odesa Opera.
Students.
His students occupy leading positions among clarinet players in Ukraine and other countries of the world. Over many years of teaching, Kalio Mühlberg has graduated hundreds of clarinetists from his class, highly qualified performers who work in symphony and opera orchestras around the world, are teachers and professors at many musical institutions. Among them are E. Surzhenko, V. Tikhonov, M. Volkov, L. Dzhurmiy, I. Olenchyk, S. Voronkin, M. Krupei, B. Turchynskyi, M. Breitman, Z. Burkatskyi and many others.
In co-authorship with Professor E. Vaulin, he translated from the Serbian-Croatian language the book by Professor A. Eberst "Clarinet and Clarinetists". Mühlberg is the author of many methodological and scientific-historical publications on the development of wind art in Ukraine and the USSR. In particular, in 1975, the Musical Ukraine publishing house published his scientific work "Theoretical Foundations of Teaching Clarinet Playing", in which the author attaches an important role to the education of musicians playing wind instruments. In it, Mühlberg gives brief information on physiology and psychology, analyses their connection with the learning and performance processes, and discusses the issues of clarinet teaching methods. In 1995, Mühlberg published Notes of a Clarinetist. The book includes essays, testimonies, and memories of the events of his personal life, his mentors, teachers, and students.
Undoubtedly, the figure of K. E. Mühlberg occupies an honourable place in the modern world performing and pedagogical clarinet music culture. Based on the traditions of national performance, in his performing and pedagogical work, he guides the development of his students through modern trends in improving sound quality, technical capabilities, strokes and dynamics, phrasing and interpretation of musical works by both classical and contemporary composers. He had an encyclopaedic knowledge of modern music, scientific and methodological literature. In 1991, the International Biographical Centre in Cambridge included Mühlberg in the list of musical authorities, international leaders of artistic creativity.
