Emily Beisel
Clarinet
In her performing career Emily finds the greatest satisfaction in working in a wide range of musical styles and groups. She is the second clarinetist with Orchestra Iowa with which she performs masterworks, ballet, opera, and pops concerts. She is a member of the contemporary ensemble Fonema Consort, touring most recently in Mexico, New York, and Minneapolis, and performing vocally-centered works by living composers. Emily enjoys work as a woodwind doubler in her resident city of Chicago, including productions at the Marriott Theater, Chicago Children's Theater and the feminist Firebrand Theater company. Emily is also an avid free improvisor, particularly as it contributes to collaborative composition. These collaborative projects range widely from her work with the performing trio Fat Pigeon to writing solo works for amplified bass clarinet.
Emily works as an active teacher in Chicago, and she appreciates the reciprocal relationship between her dual role as performer and pedagogue. She is also currently on faculty at Harold Washington College. Emily completed her Master’s in Music Performance degree at Northwestern University where she studied with Steve Cohen and J. Lawrie Bloom.