Biography
Dr. Laura Armstrong is a faculty member of Mount St. Mary’s University, where she teaches clarinet and saxophone. She has performed in recitals in the Mid-Atlantic region and has performed as a soloist at the 2018 and 2012 International Clarinet Association’s ClarinetFests held in Ostend, Belgium and Lincoln, NE. Dr. Armstrong also performed Weber’s Second Clarinet Concerto with the Frederick Symphony in 2014.
Dr. Armstrong is a founding member of the Fortunata Trio and has performed on concert series throughout the Baltimore-Washington area, and at the National Flute Association’s 2013 conference in New Orleans, LA. She is a member of the Peacherine Ragtime Society Orchestra and can also be heard on their most current album Jazzin’ the Blues Away. As a freelance orchestral performer, Laura has played with a variety of orchestras including the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, Maryland Symphony Orchestra, Shippensburg Festival Symphony, HUB Opera Ensemble, York Symphony, and the Honolulu Symphony. She is also an advocate of contemporary music and performs with new music groups based in the Baltimore-Washington region.
Laura received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Clarinet Performance from the University of Maryland in 2010 and presented parts of her dissertation, as part of a research competition, in a lecture recital at the 2011 International Clarinet Association’s ClarinetFest in Los Angeles, CA. She also holds performance degrees in clarinet from Duquesne University and Susquehanna University. Her principal clarinet teachers have been Paul Cigan, Ron Samuels, and Valerie Martin. She has also studied saxophone with Ron Bixler and Gail Levinsky. In 2015, Laura started her own reed making business, Aurora Winds.