Clarinet
Fred Ormand, a leading clarinetist, educator, and scholar, has played with the Chicago, Cleveland, and Detroit symphony orchestras and has performed as a soloist with orchestras in the United States, Europe, and Asia. He founded and toured extensively with the Interlochen Arts Quintet and the Dusha Quartet, and performed for many years at the Grand Teton Music Festival.
In 2007 Mr. Ormand retired from the University of Michigan School of Music, where he had taught for 23 years. The school recently recognized him with a Distinguished Alumni Award and an award honoring his work as a teacher of applied music. This year he is being featured at the Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium, the KU Clarinet Festival, and the International Clarinet Fest, where he will receive a lifetime achievement award for his outstanding contributions to clarinet performance, repertoire, and pedagogy. His students have won positions with the Cleveland, Boston, San Francisco, Honolulu, and Kansas City symphonies, the Royal Danish Orchestra, and a number of smaller regional orchestras. Former students also hold positions in the top service bands in Washington, D.C., and at universities throughout the United States and Europe. He has taught at several other leading American universities, including Florida State and Northwestern. As a visiting professor at the Shanghai Conservatory in 1998, he attracted students from across China. In 1995 he gave an acclaimed series of masterclasses in England, Denmark, and Sweden.
Mr. Ormand served as president of the International Clarinet Association from 1990 to 1992. His editions of the clarinet music of Amilcare Ponchielli have been recorded and are available on Danacord Records. In 2001 he was invited by the city of Cremona, Italy, to be a presenter at a symposium honoring the composer. Mr. Ormand's 2000 Danacord recording of 19th-century works for soprano, clarinet, and piano features soprano Julia Broxholm and pianist Martin Katz, an Academy alumnus. Transcience, their new recording of 20th-century compositions, is available on Equilibrium Records.
He has been a member of the Music Academy faculty since 1989.