On Saturday’s live broadcast, we feature 18 year old clarinetist Amer Hasan.
Amer is a senior at Carl Sandburg High School and will be attending Oberlin Conservatory of Music as a student of Richard Hawkins in the fall. He currently studies clarinet with Dr. Bonnie Campbell, and he previously studied with Jim La Mantia. Amer’s awards include first prizes at the Brevard Music Center Concerto Competition, the Merit School of Music Concerto Competition, and the DePaul University Concerto Festival. Amer has also twice been recognized as a Classical Music Winner by the National YoungArts Foundation, was a semifinalist in the inaugural Backun International Clarinet Competition, and has also received top awards in competitions hosted by the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra (CYSO), Midwest Young Artists, and Luminarts Cultural Foundation. He has also appeared in many festivals including the Brevard Music Center Festival, the Chicago Youth in Music Festival, and several Illinois all-state festivals.
Amer has appeared as a soloist with the Merit School of Music Philharmonic, the Merit School of Music Wind Symphony, the Southwest Symphony Orchestra, the Oistrakh Symphony of Chicago, and the Brevard Music Center Orchestra. He has also performed with a number of chamber music groups. As a chamber musician Amer has performed with the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), and his woodwind trio, KGT, was also awarded top wind ensemble of the Junior Division American Brass Quintet Wind Prize at both the 2016 and 2017 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competitions. KGT was also awarded first prize in the Junior Wind Division of the 2017 M-Prize International Chamber Arts Competition.
Amer currently plays co-principal in the CYSO and has been a member for 3 years. He has also been attending the Merit School of Music’s Alice S. Pfaelzer Tuition-free Conservatory for 8 years. This summer Amer will partake in a 10-day tour of Europe with the CYSO, followed by a performance at Carnegie Hall and a tour of Latin America as a member of Carnegie Hall’s 2017 National Youth Orchestra of United States.
