Mark Dover
Clarinetist Mark Dover has always maintained firm roots in classical music, while at the same time devoting his career to searching as deep as he can into the vast world of improvised music. In January 2016, Mark was appointed the new clarinetist of Imani Winds. More than North America’s premier wind quintet, the Grammy-nominated Imani Winds were recently named the University of Chicago Don Michael Randel Ensemble-in-Residence, 2016-2018. Currently, Imani Winds are an Ensemble-In-Residence at Mannes School of Music, The New School.
Recent highlights include giving the 2018 world premier of Valerie Coleman’s Concerto
“Phenomenal Women,” written for Imani Winds with the American Composers Orchestra at
Carnegie Hall, as well as in 2019 with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under Robert Spano,
and an upcoming performance with Albany Symphony in the fall of 2019.
Recent collaborations both with Imani and as a featured artist include the pianists Stephen Hough, 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. Recent masterclasses include Manhattan School of Music, The University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, and the Curtis Institute of Music.
Mark 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. He is currently the clarinetist of the Manhattan Chamber Players. He serves on the clarinet faculty at Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts as well as CUNY Queens College at the Aaron Copland School of Music.
In addition to his work in the classical world, Mark 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 and arrangement can be heard on their acclaimed album “Thrill of the Arts.” In September 2019 Dover performed with Vulfpeck to a sold out crowd at Madison Square Garden. He 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, Charles Yang and many more. He can be heard on the Broadway Cast Recording of “Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812.” A graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, Mark 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.