Performances by Andy Hudson have been hailed as “a treat for the listener,” and have been praised for “an uncommon singularity of purpose, technical virtuosity, youthful vigor and a mature sensitivity.” Andy has performed at the World Congress of the International Alliance for Women in Music, the New Music Gathering, the College Music Society Conference in Vancouver, and gatherings of the International Clarinet Association’s ‘ClarinetFest’ in Los Angeles, Orlando, Knoxville, and Ostend, Belgium. He has appeared in venues like Carnegie Hall’s ‘Weill Recital Hall’ and Chicago’s ‘Symphony Center,’ and has performed across Switzerland and Germany as a member of the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra. Andy has won top honors at the MTNA National Senior Woodwind Competition, the Sewanee Summer Music Festival Concerto Competition, the MTNA Southern Chamber Music Competition, and both the Northwestern University and Columbus State University Concerto Competitions, and received other prizes in the National Collegiate Solo Competition and the Vandoren Emerging Artists Competition. A frequent soloist, Andy has recently performed the concerti of Weber, Daugherty, Mozart, and Zare among others. Several of Andy’s performances have been broadcast on WFMT Chicago.

A noted interpreter of contemporary music, Andy has premiered and commissioned dozens of works to date and has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on their MusicNOW series, at the Bang on a Can Summer Marathon, and at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Eastman School of Music, and Constellation. He gave the Midwest Premiere of Michael Hersch’s chamber opera “On The Threshold of Winter” with Ensemble Dal Niente and soprano Ah Young Hong, of which the Chicago Tribune said, “The eight Dal Niente musicians threw themselves into this challenging music with a razor-sharp bite and precision that was jaw-dropping.” Andy is clarinetist and bass clarinetist with Latitude 49, a sextet that blends the finesse of a classical ensemble with the drive and precision of a rock band, and which recently held residencies at Princeton University and Baylor University. He has also appeared with a.pe.ri.od.ic and the Chicago Composer’s Orchestra, and is a core member of F-PLUS, The Zafa Collective, earspace, and 10th & Broadway. Andy has recently performed as guest principal clarinet of the North Carolina Opera and the Winston-Salem Symphony, and he has been principal clarinet of the Tennessee Valley Music Festival Orchestra since 2010, where each summer he joins the Artist-Faculty to work with talented middle and high school students from around the Southeast United States and Costa Rica.

Andy is currently Assistant Professor of Clarinet at the University of North Carolina Greensboro, and he was appointed the North Carolina State Chair for the International Clarinet Association in 2019. He previously held teaching positions at Northwestern University and Lake Forest College. Andy earned his Doctor of Musical Arts in Clarinet Performance with a Cognate Certification in Music Theory from Northwestern University, where he also earned his Master of Music degree. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree from Columbus State University’s Schwob School of Music. His primary teachers have included Steve Cohen, J. Lawrie Bloom, and Lisa Oberlander. When he’s not practicing, Andy enjoys running, reading, playing guitar, eating local food, watching baseball, and acquiring obscure instruments.

Anthony Taylor, clarinet, has been on the faculty of the University of North Carolina College of Visual and Performing Arts and Principal Clarinet of the Winston-Salem Symphony since 2007. He has been an Artist/Teacher for the Eastern Music Festival since 2013 and served on the faculty of the Hot Springs Music Festival (Arkansas) from 2008–2012. He has formerly held positions with the Spokane Symphony, the Boise Philharmonic, Washington State University, Eastern Washington University, and Whitman College. Taylor’s clarinet playing can be heard on recordings on the Navona, Centaur, Naxos American Classics and Gothic recording labels, and the most recent releases are two Centaur records projects with New Music Raleigh. The most recent is the world premiere recording of Brett William Dietz’s opera introspective Headcase, and another recent release is the debut recording of composer DJ Sparr, 21207. He can also be found on youtube; his video promoting his March 2011 basset clarinet performances of the Mozart concerto with the Winston-Salem symphony now has nearly 100,000 views. In 2014, Taylor was among the first performers of Donald Crockett’s Dance Concerto(please see media page for recordings). He has appeared at the International Clarinet Association ClarinetFest®, with a notable performance of John Adams’s clarinet concerto Gnarly Buttons in 2010 and in 2011, the world premiere of UNCG composer Alejandro Rutty’s work for Guitars, for two clarinets and Ableton Live-based electronics. In recent years, Taylor has been expanding his pedagogical skills through extensive study of human movement and the Alexander Technique, and expects to complete his ATI certification as a teacher of the Alexander Technique some time during the 2016–17 academic year. Taylor holds degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, the Florida State University and Washington State University. His former teachers include Steve Cohen, Ron Aufmann, Richard Hawkins, Frank Kowalsky, Jim Schoepflin, and Joseph Brooks.