Only a select few artists have the ability to convey their message to the back row, to galvanize an audience with a visceral power that connects on a universal level. David Krakauer is such an artist.  Widely considered one of the greatest clarinetists on the planet with his own unique sound and approach, he has been praised internationally as a key innovator in modern klezmer as well as a major voice in classical music. In 2015 he received a Grammy nomination as soloist with the conductorless chamber orchestra "A Far Cry". 

His wide array of projects, solo appearances, and multi-genre collaborations includes groups, composers and individual artists such as Ancestral Groove, the WDR Big Band, Abraham Inc. (co-led with Fred Wesley and Socalled), the Emerson Quartet, Marin Alsop, Wlad Mathulets, Leonard Slatkin (Orchestre de Lyon), Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Quatuor Debussy, Mathew Rosenblum, JoAnn Falletta, the Borderland Foundation, Geroge Tsontakis, Anakronic Electro Orkestra, Quatuor Habanera, and Kathleen Tagg (pianist and co-creator of Breath & Hammer).

Krakauer’s discography contains some of the most important clarinet recordings of recent decades. Among them are The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind (Osvaldo Golijov and the Kronos Quartet/Nonesuch), which received the Diapason D’Or in France, The Twelve Tribes (Label Bleu) which was designated album of the year in the jazz category for the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, and Paul Moravec’s Pulitzer Prize-winning composition Tempest Fantasy (Naxos). He has also recorded with violinist Itzhak Perlman/The Klezmatics (Angel) and Dawn Upshaw/Osvaldo Golijov (Deutsche Grammophon). Other notable releases include his 2015 album Checkpoint with his band Ancestral Groove (Label Bleu), Paul Moravec’s Clarinet Concerto with The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP Sound), Klezmer NY (Tzadik), Tweet Tweet and Together We Stand with Abraham Inc. (Label Bleu) and Breath & Hammer on his own label, Table Pounding Records. His unique sound can be heard in Danny Elfman’s score for the Ang Lee film Taking Woodstock and throughout Sally Potter’s The Tango Lesson.

Mazel Tov Cocktail Party is a "good vibes explosion" created in response to the current climate of incredible polarization and negativity that pervades our daily lives. In these uncertain times, it’s a chance for all of us to come together to celebrate our common humanity.

Spearheaded by world music superstar David Krakauer and producer Kathleen Tagg, Mazel Tov Cocktail Party showcases an international crew of high octane musicians. Clarinet wizard Krakauer is the Godfather to Tagg’s quirky keys & production, Iranian dynamo Martin Shamoonpour’s hand drumming, jazz guru Jerome Harris’ driving bass, rapper Sarah MK’s trenchant rhymes & oud- and guitar-meister Yoshie Fruchter’s sinuous lines. In addition, Jeremy Flower and Selwa Abd (aka Bergsonist) produced beats to round out the sound for layering with the live performance.

Together they bring their enormous musical and cultural diversity to the project and collaborate to create powerful original material. Old forms are celebrated both by bringing them into a 21st century sound world and expanding the context to make room for new stories. Mazel Tov Cocktail Party’s influences are global, but the sound they create collectively has produced something uniquely their own. Familiar dance forms such as Polka or Square Dance never sounded this way before, with hand drumming, propulsive electronic beats, lyrics calling for catharsis and positivity, deep grooves and Krakauer’s wailing clarinet crying out for us to join together, celebrate and feel the power in our aliveness.

Most recently Krakauer has been co-composing a number of large scale works with Kathleen Tagg including a fantasy for concert band, a clarinet concerto for the Santa Rosa Symphony with conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong to be premiered in 2021 and the score for Minyan by filmmaker Eric Steel (Nominated for Best First Feature: Berlin Film Festival/ Winner: Grand Jury Award: OutFest LA, 2020).

As an esteemed educator, David Krakauer is on the clarinet and chamber music faculties of the Manhattan School of Music, the Mannes College of Music (New School), The Bard Conservatory and NYU.

Please visit David’s Facebook, his website the Mazel Tov Cocktail Party website, along with Table Pounding Music for more information.