About
For Mike Gersten, music and the clarinet are tools to affect change. His film and live soundtrack, Hate, Hope, and Healing: Exploring the Holocaust Through Music, received two separate grants from the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission. As part of the Klezmer and… project, he works with other musicians to write and commission new works that blend elements of klezmer music with the musics of different cultures.
As an educator, accessibility has always been a focus. However, struggles with Crohn's disease and embouchure dystonia inspired a focus on writing works that make clarinet performance accessible to those struggling with chronic illness that may impede the ability to perform traditional repertoire. In an effort to normalize increasingly common struggles in the music community, he is open about the mental anguish and identity issues caused by the inability to trust his body in performance situations.
Dr. Gersten is the Program Manager and an Assistant Professor of Music at Frederick Community College in Frederick, Maryland and a contributor to Clarinet HQ. His principal teachers include Larry Maxey, Stephanie Zelnick, Bil Jackson, and Lauren Jacobson, and he performs on MoBa cocobolo B-flat and A clarinets and an Alpha bass clarinet. More information at mikegersten.com and clarinethq.com.
