Richard Dufallo

Richard John Dufallo (30 January 1933 in Whiting, Indiana – 16 June 2000 in Denton, Texas) was an American clarinetist, author, and conductor with a broad repertory. He is most known for his interpretations of contemporary music. During the 1970s, he directed contemporary music series at both Juilliard and the Aspen Music Festival, where he succeeded Darius Milhaud as artistic director of the Conference on Contemporary Music. He was influential at getting American works accepted in Europe, and gave the first European performances of works by Charles Ives, Carl Ruggles, Jacob Druckman, and Elliott Carter as well as younger composers like Robert Beaser. Dufallo, as conductor, also premiered numerous works by European composers, including Karlheinz Stockhausen, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, and Krzystof Penderecki. He was a former assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic, and worked closely with Leonard Bernstein from 1965 to 1975. He also served as associate conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic.

From 1950 to 1953, Dufallo studied clarinet at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. He later studied with the composer and conductor Lukas Foss at the University of California, Los Angeles where he earned his bachelor's and master's degrees. Foss became an important mentor and invited Dufallo to become the clarinetist in his Improvisation Chamber Ensemble. Dufallo was an associate conductor at the Buffalo Philharmonic in the mid-1960s during Mr. Foss's tenure as music director there.

Dufallo's wife, Pamela Mia Paul is an American concert pianist, a Steinway Artist, and a Regents Professor at the University of North Texas College of Music. They were married June 19, 1988, in Washington, Connecticut. Dufallo had two sons, Basil Dufallo, a Professor at the University of Michigan, and Cornelius Dufallo, an internationally acclaimed violinist and composer. He also had a daughter, Rene Kirby of Los Angeles; and a sister, Kathryn Traczyk, who lives in Indiana.