Mark Dover

Praised by Opera News for his “exemplary clarinet playing,” Mark Dover’s vast array of musical experiences have helped him establish himself as one of the most diverse clarinetists of his generation. In January of 2016, Dover joined Grammy-nominated wind quintet, Imani Winds.  As both part of Imani Winds and as a featured artist, Dover has collaborated with pianists Gil Kalish, Fabio Bidini, Jon Nakamatsu, and Alpin Hong; violinists Caroline Goulding, Alexi Kenney, and Francesca de Pasquale; and cellist Brook Speltz of the Escher String Quartet. Dover has conducted master classes at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, Manhattan School of Music and Rutgers Mason Gross School of The Arts. Dover has performed with the Detroit Symphony under Leonard Slatkin, the Cleveland Orchestra under David Zinman at the Kent/Blossom Festival, numerous times with the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, and other symphony and chamber orchestras throughout the Northeast. Dover has participated in numerous festivals, including Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, and the Spoleto Festival, USA.

Dover is committed to new music, and has given several world premieres of works written for him. In 2017 Dover commissioned Jonathan Ragonese’s Non-Poem 4 and gave the world premiere live on WFMT Chicago and WKCR NYC with pianist Jeremy Jordan as part of the Live at National Sawdust series. In 2015, Dover performed the world premiere of Michael Thurber’s Quadruple Concerto, Three Musketeers, commissioned by and broadcasted nationally on NPR’s From the Top with the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra and soloists Kris Bowers, Charles Yang, and Michael Thurber.

In addition to his work in the classical world, Dover has an extensive background in jazz and improvised music. He is a frequent collaborator with Vulfpeck, an American funk band formed in his hometown of Ann Arbor, Michigan. His playing can be heard on their album, Thrill of the Arts. Dover has performed and/or recorded with numerous jazz, pop, and soul musicians, including Edward Simon, Brian Blade, Scott Colley, David Binney, Bernard Purdie, Cyrille Aimée, Darren Criss, Theo Katzman, Joey Dosik, Dave Malloy, Phillipa Soo, Stephen Pasquale, Michael Thurber, and Charles Yang. A graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, Dover received his masters of music from Manhattan School of Music and his bachelor of music from the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance. His major teachers include David Krakauer, Deborah Chodacki, Nathan Williams, and Jay DeVries.