Ted Lane - Clarinet

Ted Lane is principal clarinetist and soloist with the American Sinfonietta. A student of Stanley Drucker and Dr. W. James Jones, he has also studied with Leon Russianoff, Karl Leister, Larry Combs and Sidney Forrest. As a student at Juilliard, Mr. Lane was awarded the prestigious Naumburg Scholarship. While in New York he performed regularly with the New York Philharmonic, Musica Aeterna, Festival Winds and the American Woodwind Quintet. He also served as principal clarinetist with the National Orchestral Association under the direction of Leon Barzan. While attending Juilliard, Mr. Lane made his Carnagie hall debut performing Claude Debussy's "Premiere Rhapsodie" to rave reviews. He is a former First Prize winner of the "Naftzger Young Artist Competition" and the International Clarinet Association's "International Competition."

Listen to Ted play the second movement of a Brahms Quintet

Much of Mr. Lane's career has been devoted to teaching and performing in various chamber ensembles. Active throughout Europe as a soloist and chamber musician, Mr. Lane was principal clarinetist with the "La Bianalle Chamber Ensemble" in Venice, Italy where he premiered solo and chamber works written by leading European and American composers. During the summer months he has performed as soloist on many occasions at Tanglewood, Music from Monterrey, Bear Valley Music Festival, Bay View Music Festival and, the Spoleto Festival in Italy and Charleston, South Carolina. A founding member of the American Woodwind Quintet, the National Woodwind Quintet, and the Charleston Chamber Players, Mr. Lane also was a member of the board of directors for the Sacramento Chamber Music Society. He has served on the music faculties of: The College of Charleston, SC; Wichita State University; The University of Nebraska, Omaha; California State University, Sacramento; and Florida State University.

Presently Mr. Lane is on the music faculty at the University of Texas, Brownsville and teaches instrumental music at PSJA High School (Pharr, San Juan, Alamo-ISD). He serves as clarinetist with "Kansa", a chamber ensemble he founded in 1999.

Interested in the Macintosh Computer and musical applications Ted is also the webmaster for the American Sinfonietta, PSJA-ISD and The University of Texas, Brownsville-Fine Arts Department.

Ted sent this quote:

When I first played the the Légère reed in 1999 my first thought was, this type of reed might be a great backup for those moments cane reeds just will not play. Also, I thought it would be a great backup reed for the various altitude changes while on tour in Germany and Switzerland. To my surprise I was able to use the same Légère reed throughout the entire three week tour.  It was absolutely wonderful.  I hesitated telling my colleagues in the American Sinfonietta but they eventually found out and couldn’t believe a plastic clarinet reed could sound as good as the best of cane reeds. It’s now been four years and I still have difficulty believing this is possible.  Not only do these reeds sound fantastic, they also have great response and are consistent from day to day.  I can now spend most of my practice and performance time on the music. What a change this has made in my life.  To this day I haven’t gone back to a single cane reed. Please visit my home page and listen to the various recorded excerpts included.  I used a Légère Reed on each performance, or did I?  See if you can tell. Comments are welcome!

My college and high schools students are also experiencing wonderful results with the The Légère reed. What an overall improvement in each students sound, response and overall intonation.  It’s so nice to talk about music during each lesson and not about reed problems.  

I am grateful to Guy Légère for his monumental contribution to single reed performance allowing the player to concentrate on what’s important, the music.

Ted Lane