Ian McEdwards

Meet Ian McEdwards

Ian McEdwards is a clarinetist and contemporary musician based in New Haven, CT, where he is pursuing an M.M. degree from the Yale School of Music with David Shifrin. A recent graduate of Oberlin with a special interest in new music and collaborations with composers, Ian has performed with the Lucerne Festival’s LFCO, at Bang on a Can’s LongPlay Festival with Oberlin’s CME and Alex Paxton, as soloist for Elliott Carter’s Clarinet Concerto at the Mostly Modern Festival, and is the current solo clarinetist with the Aspen Music Festival and School’s ACE . Other noteworthy solo performances include the premiere of Jacob Richter’s Clarinet Concerto and a choreographed interpretation of Anders Hillborg’s Peacock Tales with the Oberlin Orchestra—which was featured on PBS’ Applause and WQXR’s Young Artists Showcase.

Among his awards, Ian is a recipient of the PKL Prize for Musicianship and the OFMC Agnes Fowler Collegiate Scholarship, as well as 1st prizes from the Yamaha Young Performing Artists Competition and the SELMER and LISMA international music competitions. He has performed as a guest with the New World Symphony and Akron Symphony, and his music has taken him around the US and Europe in halls like Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, the New World Center, and the KKL Lucerne.

Ian is intensely curious about much of the under-explored acoustic possibilities of the clarinet. To this end, he has composed a series of four intricately complex unaccompanied solos showcasing delicate multiphonics, as well as the many other ways in which the clarinet can produce more than one tone at a time. He is the current and founding clarinetist of SOLARIS, a Yale-based collective committed to bridging contemporary-classical and popular music. Outside of music, Ian loves poetry and all things nature.

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