Melissa Lander

Equally accomplished in large ensembles and chamber groups, clarinetist Melissa Johnson Lander has performed in some of the world’s greatest concert halls from Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and the Kennedy Center to many unique locales including Barrow, Alaska, the castle ruins in Heidelberg, and the Royal Norwegian Palace. As well as playing with the National Chamber Winds, Melissa is Principal Clarinet of the Maryland Winds, maintains a large private studio in Ellicott City, Maryland and enjoys returning each summer, as a faculty member in clarinet and chamber music, to the Csehy Summer School of Music, at Cairn University, northeast of Philadelphia.

 

Previously Ms. Lander served as Executive Director and Clarinetist with Symphony Number One, and Co-Principal Clarinet of the US Army Field Band. As clarinetist for the band’s official woodwind quintet, Pentagon Winds, Melissa presented recitals and educational master classes at colleges and universities throughout the United States. Ms. Lander gave her solo recital debut at the age of 21 with a LIVE radio broadcast on NPR as a result of winning the Neale-Silva Young Artist Competition.

 

Melissa holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music, the University of Michigan and Interlochen Arts Academy studying with Kenneth Grant and Deborah Chodacki. Later in her career, Ms. Lander completed Graduate Performance Diplomas in Clarinet and Chamber Music from Peabody Conservatory where she studied with New York Philharmonic Principal Clarinetist Anthony McGill, and received the Grace Glagett Raney Prize for exceptional chamber music accomplishment.