Cassandra O'Brien
About
Dr. Cassandra O'Brien is an active and enthusiastic freelance clarinetist and teacher. She is currently principal clarinetist with Troy Metro Symphony Orchestra, second clarinetist with Macomb Symphony Orchestra, and the bass clarinetist with Rochester Symphony Orchestra. Cassandra teaches clarinet, saxophone, and flute lessons through Expressions Music Academy (EMA). She also teaches Level-Up Junior classes with EMA. She serves as the Chamber Music teacher at Oakland Homeschool Music Inc. (OHMI) in Waterford and is the band director with OHMI in Troy.
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A recent graduate from MSU (2017), Cassandra is no stranger to performing. At MSU alone, Cassandra performed with and often had principal roles in MSU Wind Symphony, MSU Symphony Orchestra, Musique 21, and MSU Opera Orchestra. She has also had many chamber and solo performance opportunities, both at MSU and throughout her playing career.
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Cassandra has had a number of wonderful performances in the area, including performing as an orchestra member at an Evanescence and Lindsey Stirling Concert at DTE. Prior to her time in this area, Cassandra performed with MSU Wind Symphony at the National CBDNA conference at Kauffman Center in Kansas City, MO in 2017. She was also a member of MSU Conducting Symposium's chamber ensemble in 2016 and 2017. Additionally, she can be heard on the the CDs, In this Broad Earth: Music of Steven Bryant and Antique Violences: Music of John Mackey, playing principal clarinet on the entirety of the latter CD. Cassandra performed in Madrid, Spain with the MSU Clarinet Choir at ClarinetFest 2015. She has also had the privilege of performing with faculty from MSU in DvoÅ™ák's Serenade for Winds, a West Circle Series event. She has shared the stage with Dr. Guy Yehuda, Dr. Tasha Warren-Yehuda, George Stoffan, Sam Martin, Lindsay Kesselman, Scott Anderson, Joseph Lulloff, Suren Bagratuni, Michael Kroth, Dr. Marlen VavÅ™íková, Lindsey Stirling, Amy Lee, Gina Corso, David Eggar, and many others.
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Dr. O'Brien has had the opportunity to work with conductors Bill Milicevic, Thomas Cook, Susie Seiter, Dr. Kevin Sedatole, Lowell Graham, Dr. Dustin Barr, Jeffrey Grogan, Jerry Junkin, and H. Robert Reynolds. Additionally, she has worked with composers John Mackey, Steven Bryant, David Maslanka, and Lynnsey Lambrecht.
Prior to completing her doctoral studies at Michigan State with Dr. Guy Yehuda, Cassandra earned her M.M. at the University of Akron where she studied with Dr. Kristina Belisle-Jones, and she earned her B.M. at Grand Valley State University where she studied with Dr. Arthur Campbell and Scott Anderson. Additionally, she has taken masterclasses and lessons with Julia Heinen, Dr. Elsa Verdehr, Richard Hawkins, Dan Gilbert, John Varineau, Nicolai Tarasov, and Don Platter.
Dr. O'Brien's lecture recital and document focused on a lovely and perhaps underappreciated Sonata by Italian composer Giacomo Setaccioli. Her approach to this sonata involved music semiotics, and her study provides an example of how a semiotic study can be applied in a practical way, allowing the performer and audience to have a better understanding of how communication operates on all levels. This practical application also helps to explain why intuitive decisions allow the music to communicate effectively.
