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Kristen Mather de Andrade

New York-based artist Kristen Mather de Andrade has immersed herself in a broad array of musical worlds and cultures, from the classical canon to world music, and beyond. Devoting time to both the worlds of clarinet and voice, Mather de Andrade has enjoyed a career of prime accolades and acclaim within her chosen musical paths, but these days music feels as vital as ever as she explores being a solo artist. This fresh outlet of releasing her own recorded music has been transformative, as Kristen is already releasing her sophomore album As Bright As The Skies Are Blue on the heels of her debut album Clarão (2021). 

Long inspired by Brazilian music and later married into the culture by way of her Brazilian spouse, Mather de Andrade, an American from the small rust-belt city of Youngstown, Ohio decided to follow her heart and record an album of Brazilian music. As the pandemic slowly began to loosen its grip in 2021, Mather de Andrade released her debut album Clarão, where she both plays clarinet and sings in Portuguese. The album was produced by Sergio Krakowski, and praised by the likes of Jazz Weekly and Connect Brazil. The idea to record an album of Brazilian music was rooted in the reaction to a performance of popular and regional Brazilian styles on a Facebook Live during the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The performance drew much attention from the country and resulted in a write up with the Brazilian national newspaper O Globo G1. Her next release Evergreen, a holiday EP, was released in late-2021 and gained traction through playlists in both the U.S. and Brazil, to include the Jazziz "New Release Cheat Sheet." 

Mather de Andrade earned a Bachelor of Music in clarinet performance after studying at the Dana School of Music. She later studied with famed Chicago Symphony principal clarinetist Larry Combs at DePaul University until being offered a position with the West Point Band. As the Principal Clarinetist and Soloist with the band, she has made a career of bringing music to a variety of communities from school auditoriums and veterans homes to the nation's most prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and The Kennedy Center. 

Singing was something she kept to herself until a 2006 appearance on an NPR game show, “Says You!” Encouraged by the response, she’s been merging her voice and clarinet ever since. With the release of her debut album she received praise from Independent Artist Buzz describing her singing as "just as powerful as her clarinet.” 

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"Any deficiencies in a musician's technique are quickly exposed in a solo or duo arrangement, but one would have to look very hard indeed to find any such crack in Mather de Andrade's armour. It's no exaggeration to say that her mesmerizing playing is one of the best things about the release." - textura.org

“Lovers of classical music are always searching for that special moment when something miraculous occurs... Just such a moment occurred when Kristen Mather de Andrade... set down her instrument and began to sing, in Portuguese, a Brazilian ballad called "Luar do Sertão." In this elegiac song, a homesick rustic tells city dwellers that they have never seen a beautiful moon because they have never seen it shining down on a pitch-black night in the countryside. The room fell silent when she began singing. Time stopped. Everyone in the room knew that something extraordinary was happening. ” - Joe Queenan, Rotary Magazine

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Primary Instrument

Clarinet

Location

New York City

Willing to teach

Advanced only

Credentials/Background

20 years of private teaching experience Master of Arts in Music Education from Columbia University Personal approach based on student needs Online and in-person lessons available.

Concerts

Music

Videos

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