Tasha Warren: Grammy-Nominated Clarinetist on Collaboration, Balance & New Music

Tasha Warren is an acclaimed clarinetist who has premiered over one hundred solo clarinet and chamber works. In this podcast you’ll hear excerpts from her album “Ourself Behind Ourself, Concealed” a fantastic collaboration with cellist Dave Eggar of newly commissioned and premiered Bass Clarinet and Cello works, which earned two Grammy nominations. If you listened to my episode with Meg Okura last year, you heard a bit about this project, and Meg’s episode is linked in the show notes if you missed it. Dr. Warren is Assistant Professor of Chamber Music at Michigan State University and the principal clarinet faculty of Mostly Modern Festival and you’ll hear her valuable and candid perspectives on a life as an educator, concert presenter and also the challenges of balancing such a full professional life with that of being a mom. You’ll also hear about her unique musical trip to India sponsored by Pitch Pipe organized by Jennifer Heemstra, among several inspiring projects in this wide-ranging episode. In this episode you’ll be hearing music by Nathalie Joachim, Paquito D’rivera, Martha Redbone Pascal Le Boeuf and Cornelius Boots. One of the wonderful surprises for me as a podcaster has been getting to know composers new to me and I encourage you to listen to Tasha and Dave’s recording which is linked for you below. Like all my episodes, you can also watch this on my YouTube channel or listen to the podcast on all the podcast platforms, and I’ve also linked the transcript to my website Tasha Warren WebsiteOurself Behind Ourself Concealed albumIt’s a joy to be able to bring these meaningful conversations to you, but this project costs me quite a bit of money and lots of time; please support this series through either my merchandise store or buy me a coffee on my Ko-fi page Newsletter sign-upSome other episodes I’ve linked directly to this one, which I think may interest you, with: Meg Okura Katherine Needleman Anthony Brandt Naomi Moon Siegel Sarah Jeffery of Team Recorder Timestamps: (00:00) Intro(02:14) champion of new music, “Ourself Behind Ourself, Concealed” album with Dave Eggar(09:05) Pascal Le Boeuf(13:19) clip from Snapshots by Pascal Le Boeuf(15:00) process of choosing composers for this project, expanding styles(17:37) trip to India, Jennifer Heemstra(25:07) experiences presenting concerts in different contexts and communities(30:53) value of journaling, importance of self-awareness and practicing efficiently(36:25) Martha Redbone, about Black Mountain Calling Cherokee stomp dance(40:07) clip from Martha Redbone’s Black Mountain Calling(41:19) Paquito D’Rivera, about African Tales(43:26) clip of African Tales by Paquito D’Rivera(44:37) embracing the risk of improv(46:06) other episodes you’ll like and different ways to support this series(46:55)study abroad program in Israel, Klezmer improv (49:29) husband clarinetist Guy Yehuda, balancing family li