ClarinetMax Opferkuch

Max Opferkuch was appointed Second Clarinet of the San Diego Symphony in May 2022. Noted for his “lush timbre and impeccable phrasing” (San Diego Story), Mr. Opferkuch has also appeared as guest principal and E-flat clarinet with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, guest bass clarinet with The Cleveland Orchestra, and as a substitute with the Pacific Symphony.

An avid chamber musician, Mr. Opferkuch has performed as part of the La Jolla Music Society SummerFest, the Mainly Mozart Festival, Art of Élan, the Athenaeum Chamber Concert Series, the Colburn Chamber Music Society and Music from Angel Fire. Mr. Opferkuch was awarded Grand Prize in the 2019 Pasadena Showcase House Instrumental Competition and won the 2019 USC Thornton Concerto Competition, for which he appeared as a soloist with the Thornton Symphony. In 2020 he was featured as a Young Artist in Residence on Minnesota Public Radio’s Performance Today, and he was a fellow at the 2019 and 2022 Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts.

A San Diego native, Mr. Opferkuch studied with Theresa Tunnicliff of the San Diego Symphony before going on to earn his Bachelor of Music in Clarinet Performance from the USC Thornton School of Music (‘20), where he was a student of Yehuda Gilad and Michele Zukovsky. He also spent a semester at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland, studying with Harri Mäki and Olli Leppäniemi. In 2023 Max Opferkuch received his Master of Music degree from the Colburn Conservatory of Music under Yehuda Gilad.