Margaret Thornhill
Clarinet
Bio
Clarinetist soloist, chamber musician, teacher, and conductor Margaret Thornhill made her New York recital debut at Merkin Hall in 1980 and her UK debut at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in 1991. A champion of contemporary music, she has given many world and local premieres including works by Cansino, Rorem, Knussen, Tower, Levy, Clearfield, Kovler and Gurol. For ten years she was the clarinetist and artistic director of the Matrix Chamber Ensemble, a touring group which received grants and awards from the Ahmanson Foundation, the National/State/County Partnership, the Los Angeles Arts Commission and the California Arts Council. From 2005-2020, she was also a member of the LA-based Category V Woodwind Quintet. Margaret has taught clarinet and coached chamber music as a member of the faculty at the University of California Santa Cruz, Stanford University. Occidental College, and Concordia University Irvine, and is currently on the faculty at Claremont Graduate University. From 2006-2017 she was the artistic director of the Claremont Clarinet Festival, held as a summer conference at Pomona College. She gives masterclasses, writes articles for international clarinet journals, has coached chamber music for the Ashland, Santa Barbara, and CMNC workshops, and is currently a lead woodwind coach for the Humboldt Summer Chamber Music Workshop at Cal Poly Humboldt, as well as coaching private woodwind workshops in the Monterey Bay area. Margaret's principal teacher was Rosario Mazzeo, of the Boston Symphony, with whom she studied from 1968- 1976. She also studied with David Breeden, late principal of the San Francisco Symphony, and historical clarinet in the UK with Colin Lawson. Dr. Thornhill is the founding conductor of the Los Angeles Clarinet Choir which has been featured in performance at featured at seven International Clarinet Association ClarinetFests. She holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stanford University.