Marguerite Levin, Clarinet

".....the luscious dark tones mixed by Baker's [Levin] clarinet...draped the piece in mystery." - Washington Post

"Clarinetist Marguerite Baker [Levin]...sang out in the second movement adagio with luxurious songful phrasing." - Harrisburg Patriot News

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2010 Seminar Artists

Gary Whitman is Professor of Clarinet and Division Chair of Woodwinds at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. Active as a recitalist, he has performed at ClarinetFest conferences in Arizona, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Maryland, and Missouri. His performances at international conferences include Paris, France, Ostend, Belgium, Stockholm, Sweden, and Vancouver, BC, Canada. He has presented masterclasses in Mexico City, Peru, Belgium, and Puerto Rico. His chamber music affiliations include the Texas Clarinet Consort, and Trio Con Brio, a TCU faculty trio dedicated to performing and commissioning music for clarinet, viola, and piano. Trio Con Brio has presented 11 chamber music commissions in the past five years. He has performed new works by Eric Ewazen in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, as well as Osvaldo Golijov and Sebastian Currier at the “Cliburn at the Modern” series in Fort Worth. In addition to his position at TCU, Mr. Whitman is the bass clarinetist of the Fort Worth Symphony, performing in the classical subscription series, “Pops”, the opera and ballet productions at Bass Performance Hall. He holds the BME and MME degrees from the University of North Texas and was awarded the certificate de stage from the International Music Institute in Nice, France. In 2004, TCU conferred upon him the Dean’s Award for Research and Creativity. Mr. Whitman is an artist-clinician for Buffet Crampon USA, Inc. and in 2008 begins a two-year term as President of the International Clarinet Association.

Richard Spece is an accomplished orchestral and chamber musician. He has performed in numerous chamber music series including the Smithsonian Hirshorn Museum Recital Series, the Music in the Mansion Series at the Strathmore, the Alexander Paley Festival, the Music on the Mountain Series, the Mozart Society of California Chamber Music Series, the Instituto de la Cultura Festival de Primavera, the Cascade Music Festival, Capital Hill Chamber Music Festival, and the Summer Festival of Sacred Music in New York City.

As an historical clarinetist, Spece has performed with such ensembles as the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Ama Deus Ensemble, California Bach Society, Magnificat, Classical Consort, Concert Spirituel, and Opera Lafayette. He is also a founding member of Circa 1800, Chamber Winds. Mr. Spece received critical acclaim for his recording, Vintage Woodwinds, on Crystal Records which has received outstanding reviews from the BBC Music Magazine, Fanfare Magazine, American Record Guide, Peninsula Reviews, The Seattle Times, The Instrumentalist, Classics Today, The Clarinet, De Klarinet, and L’ovabese. Other recording projects include two CDs with the Westwood Wind Quintet on Crystal Records (released in 2009, 2010).

Richard Spece’s extensive performance experience has included founding the critically acclaimed chamber ensemble, Saeculum Aureum Players, and world premieres of multiple pieces including BlingBling for clarinet and piano (composed for the artist by Scott McAllister). Spece graduated from Portland State University with a Bachelor of Music degree studying with Dr. Thomas (Stan) Stanford. From there he continued his studies at the Hochschule für Musik, in Detmold, Germany. He earned his Master of Music degree at the University of Washington while studying with Professor William McColl, and his Doctor of Music degree at the prestigious Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he worked with Professor James Campbell, Mr. Alfred Prinz, and Professor Howard Klug.

Richard Spece has served as a professor at universities in Oregon, Washington, Indiana, and Texas. He is currently on the faculty of the University of Maryland Baltimore County where he serves as a Professor of Clarinet and the Director of Bands.

Marty Nau is a professional clarinetist and saxophonist in the Washington, D.C. area. Starting on clarinet in sixth grade, he added saxophone in the ninth grade in order to play in the jazz band. After graduation from high school, he entered the Navy music program. In 1984, he became a member of the Navy Band's premier jazz ensemble, "The Commodores" where he was a jazz soloist and performed the music of Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw. He has studeied with jazz alto saxophonist Phil Woods and he has recently studied with legendary jazz clarinetist Eddie Daniels. Marty will have his next CD, which will feature him exclusively on clarinet, out in Summer 2010. He has performed with many of the giants in jazz including Dizzy Gillespie, Stanley Turrentine, Rosemary Clooney, Eddie Daniels, Ethel Ennis, Nancy Wilson and Joe Williams. After retirement from the Navy Band in 1997, Marty is an active free-lance musician in the Baltimore.DC area and maintains a busy teaching schedule at the DC Youth Orchestra program and at the Washington Conservatory of Music. For more information visit his website at www.martynau.com.