CHRISTY BANKS
Christy Banks is Professor of Clarinet and Assistant Chair of the Tell School of Music at Millersville University of Pennsylvania. She has appeared as a soloist/recitalist throughout the US as well as in Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, and New Zealand, and has presented at conferences of the College Music Society, International Clarinet Association, National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors, New Music Gathering, the Beijing Modern Music Festival, and the International Music by Women Festival. Passionate about new music, Banks is a member of NakedEye Ensemble and Spatial Forces Duo. Additional current affiliations include Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra, Allegro Orchestra, and Manor Woodwind Quintet. Banks received degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the Florida State University where her clarinet teachers were Diane Cawein Barger, Frank Kowalsky, and Eric Ginsberg. Banks served as Artistic Director of the International Clarinet Association’s 2022 ClarinetFest® in Reno, Nevada.
STATEMENT
The greatest honor of my professional life was being asked to serve as Artistic Director for the 2022 ClarinetFest®. The ICA’s first in-person conference coming out of the physical isolation of the pandemic. Our theme was “Connecting People, Ideas, and Cultures,” and never had the idea of connection been so urgent to me personally. I believe the clarinet is a wonderful vehicle for connection and that the ICA is uniquely poised to facilitate that connection. My vision is that the ICA is a home for all clarinetists — professional performers, college professors, music educators, pre-professional students, enthusiasts, and complete beginners — where members are empowered to be ambassadors for the clarinet in their communities. I want to expand our work with outreach and visibility, especially in tandem with ICA events. As society changes, the ICA will continue to foster a community where creativity, collaboration, and “humanness” is valued and nurtured.