This summer, at the International Clarinet Association’s annual conference in Assisi, Italy, an audition committee selected six finalists from around the world to compete in an orchestral solo competition.
Two of those six international finalists were Baylor Bears.
The duo – junior Jake Hale and senior Daniel Malacon — are part of the clarinet studio in Baylor’s School of Music. Malacon finished second in the Orchestral Solo Competition, while Hale appeared in both the Orchestral Solo Competition finals and the Young Artist Competition semifinals — the only competitor invited by the ICA to participate in both events.
The clarinet studio is led by Dr. Jun Qian, BM ’99. As a junior at Baylor, Qian was the first (and to date, still the only) person ever to win prizes in both the ICA’s Orchestral Solo Competition and the Young Artist Competition in the same year. Since graduating from Baylor, Qian (pictured above with Hale and Malacon) has earned his master’s and doctorate at the Eastman School of Music and taught at six colleges, including St. Olaf College and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He returned to Baylor as an assistant professor last year.
Sic ’em, Baylor clarinetists!