Janice L. Minor
Biography
Janice L. Minor is the clarinet professor at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia and the Saarburger Serenaden: International Music Festival and School in Saarburg, Germany (on leave for 2014 season). Active as an orchestral player, solo recitalist, chamber musician, clinician, and music educator, Dr. Minor has performed and appeared in a wide variety of venues throughout the United States and Europe. She has been a soloist with the United States Army Europe Band in Heidelberg, Germany, the United States Army Band Pershing’s Own, the Northwest Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music Eighteenth Century Ensemble and the James Madison University Symphony Orchestra, Jazz Ensemble, Wind Symphony, and Concert Band. As an orchestral player, she has performed with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Pops, the Cincinnati Opera, Opera Roanoke, the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, and the Richmond Symphony Orchestra in Richmond, Virginia. Appearances as soloist, chamber musician and clinician include the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Aspen and Staunton Music Festivals, the Lucca Music Festival in Lucca, Italy, the Interlochen Arts Academy, the Saarburger Serenaden Music Festival in Saarburg, Germany, the International Clarinet Assocation/Clarinetfest, the University of Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium, The Midwest Clinic: An International Band and Orchestra Conference, the Virginia Music Educators Association Conference, the International Double Reed Society, and the National Flute Association Conference. She is a member of the Montpelier Wind Quintet, the faculty woodwind quintet in-residence at James Madison University, and the award winning Prestige Clarinet Quartet. She has also performed on soundtracks for The Discovery Channel and National Geographic.
A native of Long Island, New York, Dr. Minor began her formal clarinet studies attending the Juilliard School of Music Preparatory Division. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the State University of New York-Purchase College where she studied with Ben Armato of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. She graduated from Northwestern University with a double Master of Music degree, receiving high honors, Pi Kappa Lambda, in music performance and music education, where she studied with Clark Brody and Robert Marcellus. Prior to her position at James Madison University, Dr. Minor was the director of bands and instructor of instrumental music in Park Ridge, Illinois, during which time she held the principal clarinet position with the Northwest Symphony Orchestra and second clarinet position with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra in Richmond, Indiana. Dr. Minor worked with Chicago Symphony Orchestra clarinetists, Larry Combs and John Bruce Yeh, while earning an Artist Diploma from DePaul University. She was awarded the teaching assistantship at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where she earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree studying with Ronald de Kant.
Janice L. Minor is a Buffet Crampon U.S.A. performing artist-clinician and music reviewer for The Clarinet, the official journal of the International Clarinet Association.
