Elias Gilbert, clarinet
Elias Gilbert is a clarinetist from Santa Cruz, California, currently based in Baltimore, Maryland. Influenced by a broad range of experiences in orchestral playing and conducting, chamber music, big band jazz, marching band, and musical theater, Elias is committed to expanding the horizons of orchestral and instrumental music.
An avid orchestral player, Elias has played principal clarinet in the Yale Symphony Orchestra under William Boughton, Peabody Symphony Orchestra, Peabody Conductors’ Orchestra, and Yale Symphony Contemporary Music Ensemble. He also plays frequently in musical theater pit orchestras, doubling on flute, piccolo, soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones, clarinet, and bass clarinet, with companies including Cabrillo Stage, The Western Stage, the Yale Dramatic Association.
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As a soloist, Elias performed Bruch’s Double Concerto for Clarinet and Viola with the Berkeley College Orchestra in 2023 as well as Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto with the Santa Cruz County Youth Symphony in 2019. His recent recital performances have featured an eclectic mix of repertoire, including Shulamit Ran’s For An Actor, Debussy’s Premiere Rhapsodie, Adolphus Hailstork’s Three Smiles for Tracey, Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, and Prokofiev’s Overture on Hebrew Themes.
Elias is currently pursuing a Master of Music in Clarinet Performance at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University under Alexander Fiterstein. He graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Mathematics in 2024, where he studied with César Palacio and Lloyd Van't Hoff.
