Dr. Stephanie Zelnick
Associate Professor, Clarinet
zelnick@ku.edu
Primary office:
785-864-9740
418 Murphy Hall
D.M.A. University of Northern Colorado; M.M. University of Northern Colorado; B.M Rice University; B.A. Rice University
Dr. Stephanie Zelnick, Associate Professor of Clarinet at The University of Kansas, is also Principal Clarinet of the Boulder Philharmonic and Central City Opera. She is also an acclaimed soloist, recording artist, and chamber musician.
“Stephanie Zelnick is fabulous...bringing her considerable all to focus in a most rewarding performance-hopefully one that will inspire other clarinetists...”-Audiophile Audition
Dr. Zelnick is one of the most dynamic clarinetists of her generation, with a career that spans the United States, Asia, South America, and Europe. She has performed as a soloist in renowned venues and festivals, including Carnegie Hall, Eastman School of Music, Festicamara (Colombia), The National Concert Hall (Taiwan), Timisoara Academica Muzicala (Romania), Congreso del Clarineto (Spain), Festival de Vincenzo Bellini (Italy), the American Embassy (Lithuania), European Day of Middle-Eastern Culture (Serbia), among others. She has taught masterclasses at numerous institutions, including the Juilliard School, Florida State University, Berkshire Music Trust (UK), Academy of Musical Arts (Czech Republic), Lithuanian Academy of Music, University of Michigan, among many others.
Dr. Zelnick is known as an eclectic recording artist, from Brooke Joyce’s innovative Waves of Stone (Innova) toAppunti di Viaggio (Accademia Italiana del Clarinetto). She is a Naxos recording artist, featured as a soloist playing Morton Gould’s Derivations for Clarinet and Jazz Band. She has two solo albums: Diaspora. Her performing has been broadcast throughout the United States and Europe, including on WFMT Chicago (Dame Myra Hess Series), Colorado Public Radio, NPR, and Italian and Serbian television networks.
Dr. Zelnick has performed with many orchestras, including the Colorado, Tucson, Tallahassee, Prague Opera, and Kansas City Symphonies, and has held principal positions in the Mississippi Symphony, Colorado Ballet, Greeley Philharmonic, Johann Strauss Opera in Vienna, and Prague Chamber Symphony.
She has toured Europe as a solo and chamber musician, performing in the Netherlands, Belgium, Serbia, Macedonia, Denmark, Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Slovakia, and Germany. She has travelled extensively as a member of the Prague International Trio and worked with the Czech-based Classicon XX. She has been sponsored by Privrednik, Serbia’s oldest humanitarian organization, to perform and teach throughout the country. She has been an artist in residence in Lithuania, been featured on Italian and Serbian television, and is returning this year as an artist in residence at the Universidade Federal de Goias and Universidad de Brasilia in Brazil. Previous trips to Brazil include concerts and residencies in Brasilia, Goiania, Campinas, Sao Paolo, Rio da Janiero, and others.
With clarinetist Mariam Adam of the Imani Winds, she has founded the Adzel Duo, a group which strengthens cultural dialogues through music. They have commissioned, performed, and recorded works by Forrest Pierce, Jason Barabba, Denmo Ibrahim, Anne Guzzo, Beth Wiemann, and Mohammed Fairouz. They were most recently featured on the University of Delaware Clarinet Day, the Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium, and were sponsored by the Israeli Embassy for an upcoming tour in the Middle East.
Dr. Zelnick is a noted scholar and has published numerous reviews and articles for the Clarinet andNACWPI. Her book, The High Altitude Clarinetist, will be published in Fall, 2016. She is active in the International Clarinet Association, serving as Wyoming State Chair for the organization, the artistic committee for the 2008 convention, and is hosting the ClarinetFest 2016 at the University of Kansas.
She is especially dedicated to the idea that music is a dramatic catalyst for social change. She has worked with students of the YOURS program of the People’s School of Chicago and Red de Escuelas de Musica de Medellin. These El-Sistema model programs are based on the idea of musical immersion programs as a catalyst for social change.
Dr. Zelnick graduated from Rice University with a bachelors degree in clarinet performance. She was the recipient of a Fulbright Grant and an Artist Diploma at the Academy for the Performing Arts in Prague. She is a member of the J. William Fulbright Committee as a Peer Review member and was also the recent recipient of several travel grants from the organization. Zelnick graduated from University of Northern Colorado with her masters and doctoral degrees and was on the faculty of the University of Wyoming for eight years. She is a Buffet-Crampon Sponsored Artist and Clinician.
