Tale of 2 S(c)hifrins Is All in the Family

Clarinetist David Shifrin.

Hollywood film and television composer Lalo Schifrin.

Is there a connection?

“Our whole family comes from Russia,” David Shifrin said. “(Lalo’s) father and my grandfather are distant cousins.”

Then why the different spellings?

“That side of the family emigrated to Argentina. Mine went to New York City. There were different immigration officers--one on Ellis Island and one in Argentina.” Apparently, each official transcribed the name according to his own ear.

Lalo Schifrin, who was born in Buenos Aires in 1932, went on to make a name for himself first in the jazz world, playing piano in Dizzy Gillespie’s band from 1960-62.

Since 1964, he has lived in Hollywood. Some of his film and television work include scores for “The Liquidator,” “The Fox,” “Cool Hand Luke,” “The Cincinnati Kid” and “Mission: Impossible.”

Lalo Schifrin received two Grammy awards for his “Mission: Impossible” theme.

David Shifrin described their relationship as “more of a friendship than a family tie.”

“We’re good friends. Lalo wrote a couple of pieces for me.”

These works include Capriccio for Clarinet and Strings composed in 1981 and a work for clarinet and piano in 1983. David Shifrin will premiere a concerto by the other Schifrin this fall in Kansas City.

Locally, the classical side of Schifrin was represented when he conducted the premiere of his Concerto for Double Bass in March, 1987, at theOrange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. Gary Karr, for whom the work was written, was the soloist. Schifrin led the Pacific Symphony.

David Shifrin has commissioned a number of new works, not only from his relative.

Last March, he premiered Clarinet Concerto by Deborah Drattell with Philippe Entremont and the Denver Symphony. And he will offer the premiere of a work by Stephen Albert, winner of the 1985 Pulitzer Prize in music, in 1990 with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Both works were written for him. Other composers he has worked with are Paul Chihara and Peter Schickele, a.k.a. P.D.Q. Bach, who, under his own name, wrote several pieces for Shifrin.

“I am always interested in expanding the repertory,” Shifrin said.