ABOUT
Dr. Ally Szeles is a clarinetist currently based in Michigan. As an enthusiastic performer she has performed for a wide range of audiences in several states and in different countries including Spain and China. Frequently, she can be found performing as a solo artist, in chamber ensembles, in improvisation groups, and as an ardent Eb clarinetist in all of the above. Advocating for new music, and actively pining for new Eb clarinet works, she has premiered pieces by Christopher A. Kaminski, Hannah Boissonneault, Sebastian Quesada, Yuchen Bian, and Megan Anderson. She won the Dissertation Fellowship Award for her specialized research on the performance on unconventionally notated musical pieces, and her energetic performances have earned her the Lillian Pringle Baldauf Prize in Musicality and the Margaret Upton Prize. She currently teaches clarinet lessons and sectionals in the greater Lansing area as well as at DeWitt Middle School and High School. She holds degrees in Clarinet Performance from Michigan State University (D.M.A.), Bowling Green State University (M.M.) and Kalamazoo College (B.A.). Her primary teachers have been Dr. Mingzhe Wang, Kevin Schempf, Tony Garcia Fernández, and Dawn Garrett.