Daniel Bonade

Daniel Bonade was born on April 4, 1894 in Geneva, Switzerland, of French parents. He studied clarinet at the Paris Conservatoire in the clarinet class of Prosper Mimart and also studied with Henri Lefebvre, clarinet of the Paris Opera. Bonade won clarinet Premier prix at the Paris Conservatoire in the 1913 Concour. In 1915 in Paris, Daniel Bonade played clarinet in the Garde républicaine Band, along with fellow-clarinetist and later Philadelphia Orchestra musician Lucien Cailliet . Daniel Bonade relocated to the U.S., initially to New York City in March, 1915, at age 20. In 1916, Bonade joined Diaghilev's Ballet Russe second American tour under Ernest Ansermet. Bonade then joined the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1917 as Principal clarinet when Leopold Stokowski decided to replace Robert Lindemann. Bonade stayed in Philadelphia until the end of the 1921-1922 season. During the 1922 and 1923 seasons Bonade was touring and playing concerts in France, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium and England. He then returned to the Philadelphia Orchestra as Principal clarinet in 1924 when the Philadelphia Orchestra could not reach agreement with Rufus Arey to continue Arey's contract Daniel Bonade was again Principal clarinet in Philadelphia until the end of the 1929-1930 season when he was succeeded by Louis deSantis, his predecessor in Cleveland. During 1931-1933 Daniel Bonade was Principal clarinet with the CBS Radio Symphony in New York City, providing year-around employment, compared with the limited seasons of contemporary symphony orchestras.

Then, from 1933 to 1940 he was Principal clarinet with the Cleveland Orchestra. Bonade joined the Toscanini-NBC Symphony tour to South America in the summer of 1940. In 1942, Daniel Bonade again played for the CBS Radio Orchestra. While in New York, Bonade also taught at the Julliard from the 1940s until 1960. From the 1930s until their departure for France, Daniel and his wife Maud Bonade retained a permanent residence in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. While in the US, nearly every Summer, except the war years, the Bonades also sailed for France. In fact, during the 1920s and 1930s, Bonade seemed to have crossed the Atlantic by steamship at least 9 times. Bonade was a US citizen from 1920. He retired to Cannes on the south coast of France in 1960, where he died in November, 1976.