Shannon Ford, clarinet & saxophone

Shannon Ford - shannonford@bex.net - teaches saxophone and clarinet at Adrian College and coaches the Woodwind ensembles. She has been active as a musical freelancer and private teacher, both classical and jazz styles, in the Toledo area since 1991. As a saxophonist, she has performed throughout the Midwest and recorded with the saxophone quartet Sax 4th Avenue (Delusions de Grandeur, AMP Rec 02), John Sampen (Shadows and Dawning, Troy 526), recorded and performed both of Alec Wilder’s Suites for Tenor Saxophone and Strings with The Alec Wilder Project (eponymous title, Riverview Records RR001), and is the baritone saxophonist with the Scott Gwinnell Jazz Orchestra/Dectet (Brush Fire (WSG 61474). Larger ensemble work on saxophone has included the Toledo Jazz Orchestra, the Toledo Symphony, and the Scott Gwinnell Jazz Orchestra. As a clarinetist she has performed for many years as principal clarinetist of the Lima (OH) Symphony Orchestra, has enjoyed engagements with the Adrian Symphony, Toledo Opera, Windsor Symphony, and Michigan Opera Theatre, and performs often with the Toledo Symphony. Shannon also is part of a flute, clarinet, and piano trio known as Mirepoix, and the chamber clarinet ensemble, Toledo Clarinets (Cambria CD1190). As a woodwind doubler she has worked shows with the national tours of “Chicago,” “Evita,” “Hairspray,” “The Producers,” and “Wicked,” as well as such notable artists as Harry Connick, Jr., Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, J. J. Johnson, Joel Grey, and Ray Charles. In addition to her teaching at Adrian College, Shannon is a teacher of Saxophone at Oakland University has held positions as saxophone instructor at Muskingum College (OH), clarinet instructor at Ohio Northern University and Siena Heights University (MI), and saxophone ensembles coach at Bowling Green State University. She earned her performance degrees from Indiana State University and Bowling Green State University, and her teachers include John Sampen, Ron Samuels, Gene Parker, and Mark Kieswetter. Visit Shannon's personal website at http://www.shannonfordwoodwinds.com