Journey
The music profession has taken me on an interesting journey thus far. After completing undergraduate and graduate degrees in clarinet performance and mentoring with some of our nation's best models, I began a professional path that led me from Chicago to Mexico City. While in Mexico, I became a part of an incredibly dynamic arts community primarily through orchestral participation. The orchestras were excellent, and I completed my time there as Co-Principal Clarinetist of the Mexico City Philharmonic. Like most artist players, I was invited to work closely with contemporary composers, teach promising students, tour the country, and participate in important music festivals. In addition, I appeared on several occasions as a concerto soloist and performed with many chamber music ensembles. The universality of music became fundamentally understood, as I found myself surrounded by colleagues who represented at least ten countries at any given time. The common language was Spanish, and yet our ears were exposed to Russian, Polish, French, English, German, and Romanian as well. A love for spoken language and music as a language were forever entertwined. From that point and because of having spent nine years out of the US, I embarked upon professional studies at the doctoral level. I completed these studies in a community of global thinkers and doers at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. I also served as the teaching assistant in clarinet and discovered a love for mentoring. To date, I have devoted seventeen years to university teaching, meanwhile always keeping myself open to professional and community-based projects and organizations. 