Clarinettist Catherine Wood has established herself internationally as a performer, educator, and advocate of Canadian music. She has been featured as a guest artist at many festivals including the International Clarinet Association ClarinetFests, Núna Iceland Canada Art Convergence, and Nordic Music Days in the Faroe Islands. An enthusiast of new music, Wood has commissioned and premiered numerous works at festivals that celebrate new music, including the Winnipeg New Music Festival and Iceland’s Dark Music Days. A proponent of the piccolo clarinets, Catherine has commissioned works for both E-Flat and D clarinets. She has performed piccolo clarinet recitals across the globe and was honoured to be a featured soloist on Molter’s Concerto No. 1 for D Clarinet at the 2016 ICA ClarinetFest.

A sought-after clinician and adjudicator, Dr. Wood has worked extensively with students in Canada and has served on international competition juries. She has judged several ICA Young Artist Competitions and was invited to China in 2011 to adjudicate the inaugural International Mozart Clarinet Competition at the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music (where she heard seventy performances of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto in one day!).

An avid chamber musician, Catherine performs regularly with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, the Brandon Chamber Players, and with Victoria Sparks in their percussion and clarinet duo Viðarneisti. Her most recently released recording, Radio Static, was with her clarinet quartet Devilsticks. She has enjoyed performing with Canadian artists such as James Campbell, Buffy Saint-Marie, James Ehnes, Marc-Andre Hamelin, and Maesha Brueggergosman.

Dr. Wood is on faculty at Brandon University where she has built a thriving clarinet studio. In 2011, she founded the BU Clarinet Festival, an annual event that features some of the top performers and pedagogues in the world. She holds a doctorate from Michigan State University where she studied with Caroline Hartig and Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr. Catherine serves as the Continental Chair of North America and on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee for the International Clarinet Association. She is a Buffet Crampon and a Vandoren performing artist.