Kristin Lee joins Graeme Steele Johnson in his return to the Stissing Center. In the performance, he spotlights his instrument’s history in the hands of master composers and performers—from Mozart to the “King of Swing” to the present day. With music written for Benny Goodman, a new work by American composer Marc Mellits, and the seldom-heard original version of Mozart’s beloved Clarinet Quintet—played on a rare, elongated clarinet built for Johnson—the program traces fortuitous relationships between composers and clarinetists throughout history and the very special music that emerged. In a special treat, Stissing Center Artistic Director Sophia Zhou joins the quintet for Prokofiev’s rousing klezmer sextet for clarinet, strings and piano.