The Ensemble da Camera of Washington
Claire Eichhorn
Clarinetist Claire Eichhorn, Artistic Director of The Ensemble da Camera of Washington, was born in Stuttgart, Germany, into a family of accomplished musicians. She has performed extensively as a chamber musician, recitalist, and orchestral player throughout the United States.
As an orchestral musician, Eichhorn has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, Baltimore Opera, Virginia Chamber Orchestra, Washington Concert Opera, and National Gallery Orchestra. For ten years, she was a member of the Washington Chamber Symphony.
An active chamber musician, Eichhorn has appeared at many of the Washington, D.C. area’s distinguished cultural institutions and concert venues, including the National Gallery of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the French and German Embassies, as well as at the Highlands Chamber Music Festival in North Carolina. She has been a frequent guest artist at the annual Brahms Festival at Florida Atlantic University. Her chamber music collaborators have included the Shanghai String Quartet, Sistrum New Music Ensemble, cellist Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, pianist Judith Burganger,and the Stratford Chamber Players.
Eichhorn records for the Vernissage Records label. Her discography includes a recording devoted to the music of Johannes Brahms, featuring the Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115, performed with National Symphony Orchestra musicians Ricardo Cyncynates, Jane Stewart, Nancy Weller, and Steven Honigberg.
A dedicated educator, Eichhorn has served on the faculty of the Levine School of Music, where she founded the Clarinet Workshop, an intensive program for high school clarinetists, and played a leading role in developing the school’s clarinet curriculum. A sought-after teacher and clinician, she has worked with generations of young clarinetists through private instruction, master classes, workshops, and chamber music coaching.
Eichhorn also played a central role in establishing and developing the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestras’ former Chamber Music Program in collaboration with The Ensemble da Camera of Washington. For ten years, she helped lead and mentor the program, guiding talented young musicians in developing the skills of ensemble playing and chamber music performance.
A graduate of the University of Michigan, Eichhorn also studied at Indiana University. Her principal teachers included Alfred Zetzer, Fred Ormand, Sidney Forrest, and Bernard Portnoy. Her chamber music studies included work with Menahem Pressler, Rostislav Dubinsky, and James Buswell. In 1983, she received the Alfonso D’Emilia Award from the Indiana University School of Music.
Eichhorn performs on F. Arthur Uebel clarinets.
Photo: Alexis Glenn / Creative Services / George Mason University