Zachary Good

About Zachary

Zachary Good is a clarinetist and composer based in Chicago. He navigates Classical, historically-informed, and contemporary performance practices in chamber music, solo, orchestral, experimental, and collaborative spaces.

Good is the clarinetist of the sextet Eighth Blackbird and a member of Ensemble Dal Niente. He is a frequent guest with Music of the Baroque Chicago, Present Music Milwaukee, International Contemporary Ensemble, and the puppet company Manual Cinema. As an improviser, he performs and records with the trio ZRL and the quintet Honestly Same. His discography includes releases on Cedille Records, Moon Glyph Records, American Dreams Records, Carrier Records, No Index, Homeroom, Parlour Tapes+, ears&eyes, and his own record label Add Dye Editions.

As a composer, Good explores contrapuntal possibilities on the soprano clarinet with small–interval multiphonics (“close dyads” or double stops), creating the illusion of multiple clarinetists playing simultaneously. His music is quietly virtuosic, inspired by the intricacies of the clarinet and a love for Baroque nuance and form. Good’s compositions and intersecting multiphonic research were the focus of his dissertation, “Add Dye: Dyadic Perspectives on Close Dyad Multiphonics for the Soprano Clarinet.” A companion to this document is Good’s most substantial composition to date, Lake Heritage (2019–2022): an hour-long piece that incorporates 60 unique multiphonics across four soprano clarinets in Bb.

Good is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Clarinet at NIU, the Instructor of Clarinet at Harper College, and a chamber music coach with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. Good is a graduate of Northwestern University (DMA), Oberlin Conservatory, and DePaul University. He is the recipient of the 2021 Luminarts Classical Winds Fellowship. Good has participated in fellowships with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and the Aspen Contemporary Music program. Good is a D’Addario Woodwinds Artist.

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