Katherine Kohler
clarinet
Katherine Kohler joined the Nashville Symphony in the fall of 2018 as assistant principal clarinet and E-flat clarinet. From 2016 to 2018, she was second clarinet of The Phoenix Symphony, and prior to that she spent three years with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. She’s also performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Florida Orchestra, and, since 2011, The Santa Fe Opera Orchestra.
As a chamber musician, Kohler’s engagements have included the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Gateway Chamber Orchestra, the Downtown Chamber Series (in Phoenix, Arizona), Chamber Music Milwaukee, and the Roma Trio, appearing on WFMT’s weekly Saturday-morning program Introductions. Kohler is dedicated to teaching, and, in addition to having private students, she’s an instructor for the Nashville Symphony’s Accelerando program, which provides professional performance and career opportunities for students from underrepresented ethnicities in American orchestras. In the summer, Kohler teaches high school students at the Birch Creek Music Performance Center in Door County, Wisconsin. Kohler is also an active recording-studio musician whose playing can be heard in films and video games and at theme parks.
Kohler made her solo debut at the age of 16, soloing at Constitution Hall in Washington, DC, as the sole first-prize winner of the United States Air Force Band Colonel George S. Howard Young Artist Competition. She later appeared with the band as a guest soloist on their 2009 national spring tour.
Kohler is a Selmer Paris Artist, performing on B-flat and A Signature and E-flat Recital clarinets.