News
Theodore Oien Appointed Associate Professor of Clarinet
Theodore Oien, one of America’s leading orchestral clarinetists and pedagogues, has been appointed associate professor of clarinet at the Michigan State University College of Music for the 2012-13 academic year.
Mr. Oien joined the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as principal clarinetist in 1988. He previously served as second and E-flat clarinetist of the Denver Symphony and as principal clarinetist of the Winnipeg Symphony and the CBC Winnipeg Orchestras. A former student of Richard Waller and Robert Marcellus, Mr. Oien holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
A concerto soloist with the DSO at Orchestra Hall and Meadow Brook Music Festival, Mr. Oien has also appeared as soloist with other North and South American orchestras, notably in Winnipeg with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, in Greensburg with the Westmoreland Symphony, and in Montevideo with the National Symphony Orchestra of Uruguay. He has performed Copland’s Clarinet Concerto under the composer and in November 1999 was invited to perform at Lincoln Center in a concert featuring principal players from the major orchestras of fifty nations in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Recent appearances with the DSO have included Richard Strauss’s Duet-Concertino, Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante and Frank Martin’s Concerto for Seven Winds. He has recorded extensively for Chandos with the DSO under Neeme Järvi and for Naxos under Leonard Slatkin.
Summer activities have included chamber music performances with the Kent/Blossom, Carmel, Bravo! Colorado, and Sunflower Music Festivals. Mr. Oien was a featured soloist at the International Clarinet Association’s ClarinetFests in 1994 and 1998.
A sought-after and dedicated teacher, Mr. Oien has taught at the University of Manitoba, the University of Denver, Michigan State University, and Wayne State University. He has also presented master classes in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, and Ontario, Canada, and has adjudicated competitions across the U. S. and Canada. A founding member of the Conundrum Wind Quintet of the Aspen Music Festival and School and principal clarinetist of the Aspen Festival Orchestra, he served the festival for 25 years as a distinguished teacher and chamber musician.
