Shannon Ford, Instructor of Saxophone
Clarinetist and saxophonist Shannon Ford has been active as a musical freelancer and
private teacher, both classical and jazz styles, in the Toledo, OH area since 1991.
In addition to her work as principal clarinetist of both the Adrian (MI) and Lima
(OH) Symphony Orchestras, she has enjoyed engagements with the Toledo Opera, Windsor (ONT) Symphony, and Michigan Opera Theatre, and performs frequently with the Toledo Symphony.
Chamber work on clarinet includes the LSO woodwind quintet, Quint-Essential Players, Mirepoix (a flute, clarinet and piano trio) and recorded with the chamber clarinet ensemble, Toledo Clarinets (eponymous title,Cambria CD1190). As a saxophonist, she has performed - both throughout the Midwest and internationally - and recorded with the saxophone quartet Sax 4th Avenue (Delusions de Grandeur, AMP Rec 02), John Sampen (Shadows and Dawning, Troy 526), and recorded both of Alec Wilder’s Suites for Tenor Saxophone and Strings with The Alec Wilder Project (eponymous title, Riverview Records RR001).
As a woodwind doubler she has worked shows with the national tours of Porgy and Bess, West Side Story, Chicago, Evita, Hairspray, The Producers, Phantom of the Opera, and Wicked (among others), as well as such notable artists as Harry Connick, Jr., Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, J. J. Johnson, Joel Grey, Clark Terry, and Ray Charles.
Larger ensemble work on saxophone has included the Toledo Jazz Orchestra, the Toledo Symphony, and the Scott Gwinnell Jazz Orchestra. Shannon is a teacher of Clarinet and Saxophone at Adrian College (MI), teacher of Saxophone at the University of Toledo, and has performance degrees from Bowling Green State University and Indiana State University. Her teachers include Ron Samuels, John Sampen, and Harry Gee.