Chi-Ju Juliet Lai (Clarinet)

    Chi-Ju Juliet Lai is an active chamber and orchestral clarinetist, as well as pedagogue. A native of Taiwan, later resided in Hong Kong, Miss Lai holds the Doctor of Musical Arts in Clarinet Performance from Boston University, M.M. from Yale University and B.M. from Rice University. She also attended Interlochen Arts Academy.  Her teachers include Thomas Martin, David Shifrin, Deborah Chodacki, Phillip Rehfeldt and David Peck.

    Since coming to Boston in 1999, Miss Lai has become a highly sought-after freelancer.  She has performed with many local orchestras including Gardner Chamber Orchestra, Cape Symphony Orchestra, New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, Glenn Falls Symphony, Eastern Connecticut Symphony and ALEA III.   Her engagements has also included international and national groups such as The Cleveland Orchestra, Charleston Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina and Tyrol Symphony Orchestra in Austria.  As an avid chamber musician, Miss Lai frequently appears in chamber concerts in and around Boston featuring works from legendary masters as well as living composers.  She is the founding member of Boston Octet and Anemoi Quintet.  Previously, she appeared with the United Woodwind Quintet in a concert tour to Japan where she also taught Masterclasses.  She is also a former member of Xanthos Ensemble, a contemporary chamber ensemble.

    Miss Lai is currently the clarinetist of Vento Chiaro (woodwind quintet) which is currently the resident artist of Rivers Conservatory of Music and will be the resident artist/faculty at Tanglewood Young Artist program 2012.  She also holds the Second/Assistant Clarinet position in Atlantic Symphony Orchestra.  As an educator, Miss Lai has a private studio and is a faculty at Phillips Exeter Academy, College of the Holy Cross and Bridgewater State University.