Alice McDonald

Alice McDonald, clarinet (Housatonic, MA) just completed her second year of undergraduate studies as a clarinet major at The Juilliard School, in the studio of Charles Neidich. A native Australian, she has lived in the United States since 2008. She commenced playing the clarinet at the age of 10, and attended Juilliard’s Pre-College Division from 2018 through 2021, where she studied with Alan Kay. She previously studied with Curt Blood in the Hartt School’s Community Division. She was a member of the Springfield Youth Orchestra from 2015 through 2018, winning the Orchestra’s concerto competition in 2017. Alice was a member of Boston University Tanglewood Institute’s Young Artists Wind Ensemble in 2017 and 2018, and of BUTI’s Young Artists Orchestra in 2019, and in 2020 and 2021 she participated in the National Symphony Orchestra’s Summer Music Institute. Alice appeared on NPR’s From the Top in November 2019, was named a 2020 National YoungArts Foundation Finalist in classical music, was the winner of the Juilliard Pre-College Open Concerto Competition in February 2020 with Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto, and was a finalist in The Juilliard School Copland Clarinet Concerto Competition in January 2022. While studying at Juilliard’s Pre-College, she was a member of the Auralis Wind Quintet, winning a grand prize in the National Young Artists Chamber & Ensemble Competition in 2019. Previous Young Artists Program participant (2022)