Nancy Mathison grew up in Southern California and is a member of the New West Symphony, Santa Barbara Chamber Players, Santa Maria Philharmonic, Symphony of the Vines, and the San Luis Obispo Master Chorale Orchestra. She has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Santa Barbara Symphony, Orchestra Novo, and the San Luis Obispo Symphony. She has also had the privilege of performing with Leonard Bernstein, the Houston Opera, American Ballet Theatre, Rudolf Nureyev Ballet, Andrea Bocelli, the Temptations, was a member of the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra, and played principal clarinet and reeds with the Santa Barbara Civic Light Opera for its 20-year tenure. Nancy attended the Music Academy of the West and received her degrees in clarinet performance from the University of Southern California (bachelor’s) and UCSB (master’s). She studied with Gary Foster, James Kanter, and Mitchell Lurie.

Chad Cullins, clarinetist, began studies with Elise Unruh and Nancy Mathison in Santa Barbara and furthered his musical education at Santa Barbara City College and USC, the latter as a pupil of Christie Lundquist, Principal Clarinet of the Utah Symphony. Chad has performed in many Santa Barbara Civic Light Opera productions as well as with the SB Choral Society, SB Oratorio Chorale, Symphony of the Vines, and West Coast Symphony, and his performances with the San Luis Obispo Opera Orchestra exemplified his doubling skills on clarinet, bass clarinet, and flute. A current SBCC student and member of the SBCC Symphony, Chad’s goals include expanding his classical and jazz flute repertoire and performing tenor saxophone as soloist and in jazz ensembles.

Amanda Kritzberg, clarinetist, received her BM and MM Degrees from UCSB, studying with Paul Bambach. She has been involved in many diverse ensembles, including symphonies, chamber orchestras, wind ensembles, clarinet choirs, and contemporary music ensembles, and has been featured recording artist for mixed-media projects, including film. As member of the Now Hear Ensemble she has premiered numerous works, and has toured with the group in the “Made in California” project, which included the “Made in California” album. Most recently, Amanda was awarded a residency at the Avaloch Farm Music Institute and was featured soloist at the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT) in Disney Concert Hall Complex in Los Angeles.

Clarinetist Joanne Kim, has concertized as solo performer and chamber and orchestral musician in many parts of North America and Asia. Her performing career began in her late teens with the honorable Stamas Scholarship Fund from the New York Philharmonic offering her a new clarinet for her studies and concerts. She has performed with New York Soloist Ensemble, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Korean Chamber Orchestra, Astoria Symphony, New Jersey Philharmonic Orchestra, Chelsea Symphony, and the Santa Barbara Symphony. Dr. Kim has earned her Doctor of Musical Arts in clarinet performance at Manhattan School of Music with a fellowship under the tutelage of Mark Nuccio. Her Bachelor of Music is from Mannes College, and Master of Music degree with merit scholarship in the prestigious Orchestral Performance Program is from Manhattan School of Music. Dr. Kim is on the faculty at Westmont College, Santa Barbara City College, Westmont Academy for Young Artists, and InterHarmony International Music Festival in Italy.

Per Elmfors, clarinetist, was born in Sweden and earned his PhD in Physics from Chalmers Institute of Technology (Gothenburg, Sweden). An avid chamber musician, his emphasis has been on performing with string and woodwind ensembles. He is currently Principle Clarinet in the SBCC Symphony, and also plays in several chamber music ensembles. Dr. Elmfors moved to Santa Barbara in 2010, and is a Senior Systems Engineer at FLIR Systems.

Of David Singer, clarinetist, Joseph Horowitz wrote in The New York Times, “To describe his playing would be to enumerate a catalogue of virtues.” Internationally acclaimed clarinetist David Singer has built a distinguished career through performances and recordings as a Principal Clarinetist of the multi–Grammy Award-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (1978–2014), guest appearances with the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, and collaborations with some of the world’s most celebrated classical musicians, including Yehudi Menuhin, Yo-Yo Ma, Rudolf Serkin, Branford Marsalis, and members of the Guarneri and Emerson String Quartets. Singer’s career highlights include two performances at the White House—first for President Jimmy Carter (1980) and later for President Bill Clinton (2000)—six summers at the Marlboro Music Festival, appearances at the Spoleto and Edinburgh Festivals, and over 100 recordings with Orpheus, including Grammy-winning albums (Gershwin’s World with Herbie Hancock and Music of Stravinsky). His acclaimed recording of the Aaron Copland Clarinet Concerto was hailed by Gramophone Magazine in England as “one of the finest accounts around… exceptional… sensitive and expressive… technically brilliant.”

He has performed on stages from Carnegie Hall to concert halls in Vienna and Tokyo, on the BBC, and today his recordings mostly as a principal performer with Orpheus can be heard on Sirius XM’s Symphony Hall. His collaborations include a 1977 recording of a Max Reger Clarinet Sonata with Rudolf Serkin, later remastered by Pristine Classical, (pristineclassical.com) has inspired original compositions, such as Grammy Award-winning Robert Aldridge’s Concerto for Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra, written for Singer and premiered with both Orpheus (East Coast) and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (West Coast), both to critical acclaim.

Beyond the concert stage, Singer appeared alongside Stockard Channing in The Lady and the Clarinet at the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, Connecticut, performing the play’s score unaccompanied. He also played the role of a 1920s Polish klezmer musician in the May, 2024 UCSB’s production of Indecent.

Today, he performs with the Singer Chamber Players and the Channel Islands Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Kuan Fen Liu. His debut memoir, From Cab Driver to Carnegie Hall, captures his extraordinary life in music—sharing behind-the-scenes and often humorous stories of the legendary figures he has known, and offering inspiration not just to musicians, but to anyone chasing a dream. In September, 2025, it was announced that David Singer and From Cab Driver to Carnegie Hall is the WINNER of The NYC Big Book Award in the category of – Autobiography. An audiobook of From Cab Driver to Carnegie Hall with possibly one big surprise addition is in the process of being made. For more information, visit www.singerclarinet.com.