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+Category:Players of the Los Angeles Philharmonic; ±Category:American clarinetists→Category:American classical clarinetists using HotCat

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{{Infobox musical artist
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Kalman Bloch
| honorific_suffix =
| image =
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| background = classical_ensemble
| native_name =
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| birth_date = May 30, 1913
| birth_place = [[Harlem]], [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]], United States
| origin =
| death_date = {{death date and age|2009|3|12|1913|5|30}}
| death_place = [[Los Angeles]], [[California]], United States
| genre = [[Classical music|Classical]]
| occupation = [[List of clarinetists|Clarinetist]], [[musician]]
| instrument = [[Clarinet]]
| years_active = 
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| associated_acts = [[Los Angeles Philharmonic]]
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'''Kalman Bloch''' (May 30, 1913 in [[Harlem]] – March 12, 2009 in [[Los Angeles]]) was principal [[clarinetist]] of the [[Los Angeles Philharmonic]] for more than 40 years.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-passings21-2009mar21,0,3189571.story|title=Passings|date=March 21, 2009|accessdate=March 21, 2009|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref>

Bloch studied with [[Simeon Bellison]], a notable clarinetist for the [[New York Philharmonic]]. As recounted by Dorothy Lamb Crawford in her 2009 book "A Windfall of Musicians:
Hitler's Émigrés and Exiles in Southern California," Bloch was hired at the age of 21 by then music director and recent Jewish emigre [[Otto Klemperer]] just before the onset of World War II.<ref name="google">{{cite book|title=A Windfall of Musicians|author=Crawford, D.L.|date=2014|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=9780300155488|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lkh9K7tSMsEC&pg=PA263|page=263|accessdate=February 15, 2017}}</ref>

Bloch also performed on several film soundtracks, including those of [[John Williams]], [[Walt Disney]]'s [[Fantasia (1940 film)|Fantasia]], [[Sunset Boulevard]], [[For Whom the Bell Tolls]], [[North by Northwest]], [[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]], and [[Chinatown]]. He was also a prolific collaborator in Southern California, playing for and recording with conductors such as [[Arnold Schoenberg]] and [[Igor Stravinsky]] upon their move to Los Angeles along with many other Jewish artists and intellectuals during and after World War II.<ref name="google2">{{cite book|title=A Windfall of Musicians|author=Crawford, D.L.|date=2014|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=9780300155488|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lkh9K7tSMsEC|accessdate=February 15, 2017}}</ref> Bloch also appears on multiple classical recordings with composers and conductors [[Zubin Mehta]], [[Carlo Maria Giulini]], [[Esa-Pekka Salonen]], [[Otto Klemperer]], and [[Alfred Wallenstein]].

As recounted in the April 21, 1956 [[Los Angeles Times]] article "Spectators Stir Uproar at Red Probe," Bloch was forced to testify before the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] (HUAC) for his and his wife's (artist Frances Bloch-Heifetz) progressive activities in Southern California after World War II. Evoking the 1st and 5th Amendments, he refused to answer any questions regarding his membership in the [[Communist Party]], instead telling the committee that he "abhorred violence."<ref name="archive">{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/investigationofc5610unit/investigationofc5610unit_djvu.txt|title=Full text of "Investigation of Communist activities in the Los Angeles, Calif., area. Hearings"|accessdate=February 15, 2017}}</ref> His passport was taken and he was refused travel for the Philharmonic's Asian tour that same year.

Bloch lived and taught in his home and studio in the [[Franklin Hills, Los Angeles|Franklin Hills]] neighborhood of [[Los Feliz]] for over 50 years. He also taught clarinet at [[Pomona College]] and [[Cal State Fullerton]] and wrote several books on symphonic repertoire for clarinet.<ref name="google3">{{cite book|title=The orchestral clarinet: a study of symphonic repertoire|author=Bloch, K.|date=1987|volume=2|publisher=Boston Music Company|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dPswAQAAIAAJ|accessdate=February 15, 2017}}</ref> Until his death at the age of 95 in 2009 he was active in progressive and leftist political causes, an active clarinet teacher, and member of the Los Feliz Woodwind Ensemble along with famed member of [[Frank Zappa]] and the [[Mothers of Invention]], Bunk Gardner.

==Family==
Kalman Bloch is related through his wife Frances (died 2000) to violinist [[Jascha Heifetz]].

His daughter, [[Michele Zukovsky]], is an acclaimed clarinetist and served as principal clarinetist with the [[Los Angeles Philharmonic]] from 1961 to 2015.<ref name="latimes">{{cite web|url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-michele-zukovsky-la-phil-clarinetist-20151219-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|title=L.A. Philharmonic's notable lead clarinetist scales down her career after 54 years - LA Times |date=17 December 2015 |accessdate=February 15, 2017}}</ref>

His grandson, [[Stefano Bloch]] is an author and professor in the [[University of Arizona School of Geography, Development and Environment]].

Kalman's nephew, Lenny Heifetz, is a solo pianist in Central California. As of early 2024, Lenny has performed for nearly 6,000 concerts and events, including 600 weddings. Lenny's father, Emanuel Heifetz, noted violinist and educator at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, was Frances Bloch's brother.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloch, Kalman}}
[[Category:1913 births]]
[[Category:2009 deaths]]
[[Category:American classical clarinetists]]
[[Category:Musicians from Manhattan]]
[[Category:People from Harlem]]
[[Category:California State University, Fullerton faculty]]
[[Category:Pomona College faculty]]
[[Category:20th-century American musicians]]
[[Category:Players of the Los Angeles Philharmonic]]

Kalman Bloch - Revision history

imported>EIGHTCLOUDS: +Category:Players of the Los Angeles Philharmonic; ±Category:American clarinetists→Category:American classical clarinetists using HotCat