About Kevin Clasen-LeBlanc

Dr. Kevin Clasen-LeBlanc is a clarinetist and woodwind teacher from Yorktown, Virginia. A specialist on Bass clarinet and early clarinets, he often performs solo works for bass clarinet, works borrowed from the repertoire of other instruments, and is frequently involved in the commission of new works.

He earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in clarinet performance at Arizona State University, and he received his Masters degree at Florida State University and his Bachelors degree at The University of Texas at Austin. Additionally, he earned a Master's in Bass Clarinet Performance at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent. His teachers include Eddy Vanoosthuyse,  Robert Spring, Frank Kowalsky, and Richard MacDowell on clarinet and Dan Puccio on Saxophone. Additionally a performer of historical clarinets, he studied with Vincenzo Casale and has performed with the Jeune Orchestre Atlantique, a training orchestra that specializes in the performance of historically informed performance on instruments of the Classical and Romantic periods located at the Abbaye Aux Dames in Saintes, France, under the direction of violinist, Alexander Janizcek.

As a clinician, he has coached young musicians at schools throughout the United States and Europe, and teaches privately and as a licensed K-12 Instrumental Music Teacher in the Duval County Public School System. As an orchestral musician, has performed with The Brussels Philharmonic, The Phoenix Symphony, Arizona Opera, and previously held the position of Bass Clarinetist of the Tallahassee Symphony.

Clasen-LeBlanc has performed as the featured soloist in a performance of the Concertino of Carl Maria Von Weber with the International Clarinet Choir, under the direction of Eddy Vanoosthuyse and he more recently performed is own arrangement of Domenico Mirco's La Sonnambula Fantasy with the Jacksonville University Wind Ensemble. He has performed recitals throughout Europe and the United States, both as a soloist and as a chamber musician and most recently performed recitals in Florida, and with the Norfolk Chamber Consort in Virginia.

A champion of new music, Clasen-LeBlanc has been involved in the commission of new works, including the world premiere of composer, Trevor Gureckis’s, Programming Harmony, a work for clarinet and bass clarinet and the commission and premiere of Flemish composer, Norbert Goddaer’s Restless for clarinet and Piano.