Hailed as “dazzling” by the Boston Globe, Dr. Amy Advocat is clarinetist/bass clarinetist with Boston Modern Orchestra (named 2016 Ensemble of the Year by Musical America), with whom she has performed, recorded, and premiered numerous new works (the GRAMMY nominated orchestra has performed over 100 World Premieres and produced 50 CD recordings in its 20 years). She was a featured soloist with BMOP on two occasions, premiering a Concerto for Two Clarinets by Ezra Sims, and a Concerto Grosso written for the Firebird Ensemble and BMOP by Derek Hurst. She was also a featured soloist and performer on the BMOP Club Concert series, where she performed solo pieces written for her at the Oberon Theater and Club Cafe. Highly sought after for her unique interpretations of new music, Dr. Advocat has performed with Guerilla Opera, Collage New Music, Dinosaur Annex, Sound Icon, Firebird Ensemble, Callithumpian Consort, ALEA III, The New Fromm Players at Tanglewood, Boston Microtonal Society’s NotaRiotous, Glass Farm Ensemble, and the Second Instrumental Unit.
Dr. Advocat is a founding member of the bass clarinet and marimba duo, Transient Canvas, with whom she has commissioned and premiered over 70 new works since 2011, essentially creating an entirely new repertoire for their unique instrumentation. They were featured performers at the first annual New Music Gathering in San Francisco and have performed at The Firehouse Space in New York City, Jordan Hall in Boston, Short North Stage in Columbus, OH, The Goat Farm Arts Center in Atlanta, and the Original Gravity Concert Series which pairs local composers with local beers at breweries in the Greater Boston area. Committed to educating young musicians, Transient Canvas travels to many universities and conservatories for residencies, masterclasses, and performances. Upcoming events include mini-residencies at Harvard University, Boston Conservatory, Otterbein University, and performances at Rutgers University, Kent State University, and Roger Williams University. Transient Canvas will also be Ensemble-in-Residence at the 2017 Alba Music Festival's Composition Program in Alba, Italy where they will workshop, perform, and record new works by the Festival's fellows and faculty. Transient Canvas' recording of Andy Vores’ Fabrication 10: Itch appears on his latest CD "One Head", released in January 2013. They will release their debut album of six commissioned works, including a piece by 2016 Guggenheim Fellow Adam Roberts, in the Fall of 2016.
Always looking for the most innovative projects, Dr. Advocat was highlighted in the Boston Globe for her work at the Bohlen-Pierce Symposium in Boston, during which she premiered six pieces on the newly invented Bohlen-Pierce clarinet. This instrument plays in a non-octave-repeating tuning system which offers an alternative to our own, and was the basis of Dr. Advocat’s studies toward her DMA at McGill University in Montréal. She has since commissioned solo and chamber works for the new instrument and is in the planning stage with composer Ken Ueno and Marimba One to invent the world's first Bohlen-Pierce marimba. This project will include a substantial new work that will be commissioned and performed by Transient Canvas.
Equally at home with more traditional classical music, Dr. Advocat has also performed with Odyssey Opera, Emmanuel Music, Boston Pops, Harrisburg Symphony, Opera Boston, New Hampshire Music Festival, Monadnock Music, National Lyric Opera, Boston Philharmonic, and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Advocat was twice a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, and has participated at the Spoleto USA Festival, Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice (SICPP), New York String Orchestra Seminar, Virginia Arts Festival, and the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria.