Monday, March 27, 2023 at 8 p.m.
Squires Recital Salon

On the program:
Dance Preludes for Clarinet and Piano by Witold Lutoslawski
Sonata for Bb Clarinet and Piano by Amanda Harberg
Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano by Joseph Horovitz
Three Pieces for Clarinet and Piano by Paquito D'Rivera

A native of China, Lin Ma was appointed principal clarinetist of the National Symphony Orchestra by Gianandrea Noseda in 2018. Prior to joining the NSO, he had served as assistant principal and Eb clarinetist of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra since 2015. He also played a one-year position as second clarinetist in the Houston Symphony. Ma won the 2014 Ima Hogg International Competition and performed as soloist with the Houston Symphony Orchestra. Later, he appeared as soloist at the Baytown Symphony Orchestra’s 2014–15 season opener. In addition, Ma soloed with National Repertory Orchestra at the NRO music festival in 2013.

Ma earned his Master of Music degree at Rice University, under the tutelage of Richie Hawley, and he holds a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin Conservatory of Music where he studied with Richard Hawkins. Ma has also studied at the Idyllwild Arts Academy with Yehuda Gilad and the middle school attached to the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing with Yuanfu Huang. 

Ma is a Buffet Crampon Performing Artist.

Hailed by the LA Times for “capturing exquisite intricacies of sonorities,” pianist Gloria Engle has performed with vocalists and instrumentalists at the Aspen Music Festival, Fall Island Vocal Seminar, International Clarinet Association, International Horn Symposium, Port Townsend Chamber Music Workshop at Centrum in Washington, and SongFest held at the Colburn School and San Francisco Conservatory. A strong proponent of contemporary music, she has collaborated with Rice University’s Electroacoustic Music Labs, Eastman School’s Musica Nova and the Beal Institute for Film Music. Prior to joining the faculty at Virginia Tech, Engle served on music staff at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, the Eastman Opera Theater, Eastman Community Music School, Bonita Boyd International Flute Masterclass, and the Eastman Saxophone Institute.

Performance and coaching highlights include Virgil Thomson’s The Mother of Us All with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (2020), the US premiere of Fata Morgana by Pavel Haas (2019), and the world premiere of Anne LeBaron’s Radiant Depth Unfolded (2015). Her research focuses on cultivating collaborative music-making among students. She has also devoted herself to performing little-known music composed by victims of the Holocaust.