Rico Reserve Press Conference

Industry executives, dealers, and musicians gathered at 632 on Hudson in New York City on Tuesday evening, September 18, for a press conference marking the launch of the new Reserve clarinet mouthpieces from the Rico division of D’Addario.

A video introduction of the mouthpieces outlined how they were inspired by the designs of renowned vintage Henri Chedeville mouthpieces of the 1920s and ‘30s. According to Jim D’Addario, the company spent over a year and half analyzing, testing, and developing prototypes to reflect the best in the classic designs in order to create a high quality yet affordable line of new mouthpieces. Every detail of the design was considered, including CT Scans, which were taken to help provide information with extremely high levels of detail.

D’Addario added that the new computer-aided manufacturing equipment used for the mouthpieces is highly precise and is constantly measuring and monitoring the product during the production process, to the accuracy of 1/1000 of an inch. The hard rubber that each mouthpiece is produced from is milled from solid bar rubber rather than molded rubber in order to maintain the highest level of quality and consistency. The new Reserve line is available in three tip openings, 1.00mm, 1.05mm, and 1.10 mm.

Robert Pollan of D’Addario was congratulated, as he helped to lead the team of designers, engineers, and musicians, including mouthpiece expert Lee Livengood and clarinetists Mark Nuccio of the New York Philharmonic and Richie Hawley of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and numerous D’Addario engineers and designers.

To cap off the evening, Hawley performed the Debussy Premiere Rhapsody and Nuccio performed the Gershwin Three Preludes for clarinet and piano. Both musicians used the new Rico Reserve mouthpiece in their performances.