Biography

Acclaimed clarinetist Rié Suzuki made her Tokyo debut as a winner of the annual Japan Clarinet Association Emerging Artists Recital Series while still a conservatory student at Musashino Academia Musicae. A native of Japan, Suzuki has since expanded her versatile professional titles to include soloist, recitalist, chamber & orchestral musician, and educator, performing and teaching throughout Asia, Europe, North America, and Central America.

Currently, Suzuki is a tenured member of The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and serves as principal clarinet of The Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra. Her other orchestral engagements have included performances with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Ballet, Opera Philadelphia, The Philly Pops, among others. An avid chamber musician, Suzuki is a founding member of the Eastwinds Quintet, the New Horizons Chamber Ensemble, and Tripod Trio. Recent solo appearances include performing concertos with the Rowan University Wind Ensemble, co-premiering the wind ensemble edition of Jonathan Leshnoff’s Clarinet Concerto “Nekudim,” and playing Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for Four Winds with the Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra.

Her notable collaborations and tours include a recital series with the Poulenc Trio in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., a concert tour of Central America sponsored by the U.S. Embassy with the Liberty Winds, a United States national tour of "Star Wars in Concert,” and a concert tour of China performing at the Lianhuashan Music Festival in Shenzhen. Suzuki has also performed at music festivals worldwide, such as AIMS in Graz, Austria; Apple Hill; Aspen; Kusatsu in Japan; Northern Lights; Princeton; and Sarasota Music Festivals.

Suzuki’s live performances on broadcast include WQXR in New York (McGraw-Hill Young Artists Showcase), WRTI in Philadelphia, podcasts from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., as a guest speaker for "Messiaen's Quatuor pour la fin du temps" on WITF in Harrisburg, and an appearance on Nicaraguan National TV.

Her performances led to her recording on the Capstone Records with Soprano, Phyllis Bryn-Julson, New World Records with the Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, Centaur Records with the Tripod Trio, Naxos Records with the Philadelphia Philharmonia under JoAnn Falletta, and Warner Brothers label with The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. Her most recent recording, the commissioned work Threes by Maurice Wright, was released in July 2020 under BCM&D Records label.

Suzuki holds both a doctorate and graduate performance degree from The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University, where she was awarded the Orchestral Fellowship and the Peabody Career Grant twice. Her principal teachers include Loren Kitt, Robert Coleman, Yuji Murai, and Tadao Funahashi, with influential chamber music coaching from Samuel Sanders and Mark Sparks.

A devoted educator, Suzuki has been appointed as Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Central Florida, starting August 2024. She has also taught at Rowan University and its Community Music School, where she organized the annual Rowan University Clarinet Day. Additionally, Suzuki mentors PMAY (Philadelphia Music Alliance for Youth) artists through Temple University Music Preparatory Division and Settlement Music School, serving as Artist in Residence and Special Arrangement Chamber Music Coach for the Advanced Study Ensemble. Most recently, she was named a winner of The 2024 AFT Adjunct Faculty Award for Excellence in Academic Instruction and was also honored as a finalist for the prestigious 11th Annual Ovation Award for Inspiration and Outstanding Leadership in Music Education. This summer, she is returning to the Apple Hill Chamber Music Workshop in New Hampshire as a faculty-artist.