Claire Eichhorn

Clarinetist Claire Eichhorn, Artistic Director of the Ensemble da Camera of Washington, was born in Stuttgart, Germany to a family of outstanding musicians. She has performed as chamber musician and recitalist throughout the United States. As an orchestral player she has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, Kennedy Center Orchestra, Baltimore Opera, Virginia Chamber Orchestra, Washington Concert Opera, National Gallery Orchestra and for ten years was a member of the Washington Chamber Symphony.  

 

As a Chamber Musician she has  performed at the National Gallery of Art,  Corcoran Gallery, French and German Embassies, The Highlands Chamber Music Festival in Highlands, N.C. among many others.  She has been a  frequent guest artist at the annual Brahms Festival at Florida Atlantic University and among the artists with whom she has collaborated are the Shanghai String Quartet, the Sistrum New Music Ensemble, cellist Tsuyoshi Tsusumi, pianist Judith Burganger, and the Stratford Chamber Players.

 

Ms Eichhorn recorded for the Vernissage Records Label.  Her  most recent CD, released Spring 2003, is dedicated to the composer Johannes Brahms.  She and members of the National Symphony Orchestra - violinist Ricardo Cyncynates, violinist Jane Stewart, violist Nancy Weller and cellist Steven Honigsberg - perform the Brahms Clarinet Quintet.

 

Ms. Eichhorn is a sought after teacher, both at her home studio in Fairfax County (www.claireeichhorn.com) and as a faculty member of the Levine School of Music,  where she spearheaded the Clarinet Workshop for high school students, an intensive one-week camp which ran for 10 years.  She also led the development of the clarinet curriculum for Levine.

 

Claire helped develop the existing format of the Chamber Ensemble Program at the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestras. Now in its 8th year, the program is highly successful and has received support from the NEA for years. Students receive coaching from the acclaimed Ensemble da Camera of Washington, have public master classes and are given performance opportunities throughout the year.  On March 10, 2016, a quartet from the AYPO Chamber Ensemble Program performed in the East Landing of the White House for guests entering the Canada State Dinner, which was hosted by The President and the First Lady. They also played a side-by-side with the strings of the Marine Band later in the evening.  

 

Ms. Eichhorn is a graduate of the University of Michigan having also attended  Indiana University.   Among her teachers were Alfred Zetzer, Fred Ormand, and Bernard Portnoy.   She also worked with Menachem Pressler, Rostislav Dubinsky, and James Buswell in Chamber Music.  In 1983 she was the recipient of the Alfonso D’Emilia Award given by the School of Music at Indiana University. Ms. Eichhorn performs on Herbert Wurlitzer Clarinets.

 

 

Photo by Alexis Glenn/Creative Services/George Mason University