Music and Musicians

Musician Biography

Emily Bowland

Bass Clarinet

Emily Wasson Bowland joined the Chattanooga Symphony as Bass Clarinetist in 2004. In addition to the CSO, she holds positions in Orchestra Kentucky and the Evansville Philharmonic, and performs regularly with the symphonies of Nashville and Huntsville. An equally versatile performer on clarinet, E-flat, and bass clarinets has allowed her an interesting and diverse career, both live and in the recording studios. Some of the notable artists Ms. Bowland has performed with include Natalie Cole, Jose Feliciano, Michael McDonald, and Trisha Yearwood. In September 2008, she was a part of the world-premiere of Trey Anastasio’s “Time Turns Elastic” with Orchestra Nashville, a performance featured in Rolling Stone magazine. In 2009, she was the featured soloist with Orchestra Kentucky performing Aaron Copland’s Clarinet Concerto.

Her recording credits include Principal Clarinet with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra on cellist Emmanuel Feldman’s recording “Rider on the Plains”, which received an excellent review by the New York Times. She has also appeared on several recordings with the Nashville Symphony, a highlight being the 2007 release of Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” under the direction of Leonard Slatkin.

Ms. Bowland holds degrees from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the University of Southern California. Her major teachers include Yehuda Gilad, Mitchell Lurie, and Richard Hawley. She currently serves on the faculty of Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music in Nashville, where she resides with her husband, saxophonist Jimmy Bowland.