One of the most versatile and respected musicians of his generation, clarinetist Alan R. Kay was honored with membership in the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in 2002 and serves as Principal Clarinet with New York’s Riverside Symphony. He also performs as principal clarinet often with the American Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and at American Ballet Theater. Mr. Kay’s honors include the C.D. Jackson Award at Tanglewood, a Presidential Scholars Teacher Recognition Award, Juilliard’s 1980 Clarinet Competition, and the 1989 Young Concert Artists Award with the piano and wind sextet Hexagon later featured in the prizewinning documentary film, “Debut.” Mr. Kay is a founding member of Windscape and Hexagon; he appears frequently with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and as a guest of numerous string quartets and chamber ensembles, including the Mendelssohn, Rossetti, Miro, and Shanghai Quartets. A guest artist at many of the country’s finest summer festivals, Mr. Kay returned last summer for his second season at Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival and his sixth season at the esteemed Yellow Barn Festival. His acclaimed performance of Weber’s Concerto at the 2005 Windham Chamber Festival was heard repeatedly through the U.S. on NPR’s “Performance Today.” Artistic Director of the New York Chamber Ensemble, his series of thematic programs at the ensemble's Cape May Music Festival draws growing audiences each year. Also a conductor, Mr. Kay studied orchestral conducting as a Bruno Walter Scholar at Juilliard with Otto-Werner Mueller and has led ensembles at Purchase College, Juilliard, in Buck’s County (PA), Staten Island, California and New York City. Mr. Kay taught at the Summer Music Academy in Leipzig, Germany in 2004 and teaches at the Manhattan School of Music, The Juilliard School and Stony Brook University. In the past year, he has commissioned and premiered new solo works by Pulitzer Prize-winning composers Charles Wuorinen and Paul Moravec. He has served on the juries of the International Chamber Music Festival in Trapani, Italy, Young Concert Artists International Auditions, and the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. A virtuoso of the wind chamber music repertoire, Mr. Kay has recorded CD’s with Hexagon, Windscape and the Sylvan Winds; he also appears on many other chamber music, orchestral and new music CD’s. He lives with his two boys, Noah and Jonathan, ages 16 and 13, in Leonia, New Jersey.