Libby Van Cleve, English horn

Described as "expert" by the Washington Post, "dazzling" by the San Francisco Chronicle, and "absolutely exquisite" by Paris Transatlantic, Libby Van Cleve´s most extreme epithet was from the Hartford Courant which dubbed her "the double reed queen of the new music world."

Libby Van Cleve is recognized as one of the foremost interpreters of chamber and contemporary music for the oboe. Her solo playing is featured on the New Albion, CRI, Aerial, and Centrediscs CD labels. Her solo English horn and oboe d´amore performances are featured on the internationally acclaimed CD "Dark Waters," music by Ingram Marshall. In addition Ms. Van Cleve performs regularly with chamber music groups including Chez Vees and Burning Bush Baroque.

Compact discs featuring her chamber playing have been released on the Tzadik, New World, OODisc, Braxton House, What Next?, CRI and Artifacts labels. Numerous compositions have been written for her and have been commissioned by organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts, Connecticut Commission for the Arts, Canada Council, and Minnesota Composers Forum.

Ms. Van Cleve has received grants for the performance and recording of new works from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, Minnesota Composers Forum, Jerome Foundation, and North West Area Foundation. She has been awarded residencies at the Yellow Springs Artist Colony and the Banff Centre, and she won the prestigious Yale School of Music Alumni Association Prize.

Ms. Van Cleve is the author of Oboe Unbound, a book on contemporary oboe techniques published by Scarecrow Press. She is co-author, along with Vivian Perlis, of the award-winning book/CD publication,Composers´ Voices from Ives to Ellington, Yale University Press. She also edited Bach´s Suites Numbers 1 and 3, available through T.D. Ellis Music Publishing, ASCAP. Ms.

Van Cleve received her DMA from Yale School of Music, her MFA from California Institute of the Arts, and her BA, magna cum laude, from Bowdoin College. Her teachers have included Ronald Roseman, Allan Vogel, and Basil Reeve.