Robert Spring has been described as "one of this country's most sensitive and talented clarinetists," Arizona Republic, "dazzled his audience...flawless technique," The Clarinet Magazine, and "a formidable soloist...played with great emotional life" Copenhagen, Denmark, Politiken. Spring's recording of Grawemeier Award-winning composer Joan Tower's works for clarinet was described by The Clarinet Magazine as "truly outstanding....one would be hard-pressed to find better performances of contemporary music.... first-rate music performed with the highest professional standards." The Instrumentalist Magazine says of his recording, "Dragon's Tongue", a CD of virtuoso music for clarinet and wind band, "His musicality and technique make this recording a must for every CD collection." Fanfare Magazine says of the CD, "Tarantelle", music that the famous violinist Jascha Heifetz recorded on violin, being performed on clarinet, "This recording was meant to amaze and, man, it succeeds."

The America Record Guide writes about his recent recording of the Copland Clarinet Concerto, "Spring is fabulous in the Copland. His phrasing is elegant swing tailored with great flow and a spread of tone colors and expressive subtleties. His low- and mid-range are especially warm, rich, and embracing and highly effective in the introduction and in the bridge to the jazzy finale. And boy what a finale! The pace is neatly judged to pick up at critical junctures so that, by the end, it feels like an improvised jam session."

Spring attended the University of Michigan where he was awarded three degrees, including the Doctor of Musical Arts degree. He was recently awarded the "Citation of Merit Award" from the School of Music Alumni Society. His teachers included John Mohler, David Shifrin, and Paul Shaller. Spring has performed as a recitalist or soloist with symphony orchestras and wind bands in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and South America, and has been heard in the United States on National Public Radio's, Performance Today. He frequently serves as a clinician and adjudicator and teaches on the faculties of several summer music festivals. He has published numerous articles on multiple articulation and other contemporary clarinet techniques.

Spring was president of the International Clarinet Association from 1998-2000 and has performed for numerous International Clarinet Association conventions. He hosted the 1995 International Clarinet Association ClarinetFest at Arizona State University where he is Professor Emeritus of Music in clarinet. Spring is also a guest professor at the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music. He is a Henri Selmer Paris Artist and performs on the Privilège clarinet.

Jana Starling

Canadian clarinetist Jana Starling is a nationally and internationally active performer and teacher. She has performed with the Arizona Opera Company, the Paraguayan National Symphony, and utility clarinet with the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra and ProMusica Chamber Orchestra. She has been programmed numerous times at the International Clarinet Association’s ClarinetFest®, given recitals and masterclasses at the Belgian Clarinet Academy, Sichuan Conservatory of Music in China, and has been a guest artist and adjudicator at various festivals in the United States and Canada. She also teaches frequently at the International Music Camp (Peace Gardens, CAN/USA), the Interprovincial Music Camp (ON), and the co-founder of the Lift Clarinet Academy, an innovative summer program in Colorado.

Starling has recorded and commissioned new music by composers such as Eric Mandat, William O. Smith, James David, and Roshanne Etezady. Her debut CD Inflexion earned a 2007 East Coast Music Award nomination for “Classical Recording of the Year” and her second solo CD Mythos (PotenzaMusic, 2011) contains numerous premiere recordings by composers such as Theresa Martin, Dana Wilson, and Mark Schultz. She has been involved in numerous collaborative recordings and currently tours and commissions works with the clarinet trio, Ironwood Trio, playing Eb clarinet. The Clarinet magazine (Mar 2008) CD review hails Starling as “a wonderful player….musically sensitive ..., you will not be disappointed!”.

In 2011, she joined the Don Wright Faculty of Music at Western University as an Assistant Professor. She previously held positions at Arizona State University (USA) and Mount Allison University (NB, Canada). Starling received her BMus in music education from Brandon University (Manitoba, Canada, 1995) and her MMus and DMA in clarinet performance from Arizona State University (USA, 1997, 2005). Her teachers have been Ron Goddard, Connie Gitlin, and Robert Spring.