Clarinetist/Bass Clarinetist Laura Carmichael (USA/the Netherlands) is based in Amsterdam. She has performed solo and chamber music recitals at Merkin Hall (New York), Esti Concerts (Tallinn, Estonia), the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Berlin Festspele (MaertzMusik), Musique Démesurées (Clermont-Ferrand, France), The Mondavi Center (Davis, CA), and the Festival of New American Music (CA). She has been on the roster as a soloist for the California Arts Council since 2001.
She has performed with the San Francisco Symphony, Ensemble MAE (Amsterdam), the Chrisztina de Chatel Dance Company, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Heilos Ensemble (Netherlands), the Kairos String Quartet (Berlin), the Barton Workshop, the Dutch National Ballet, saxophonist/sho player Naomi Sato as Duo X (Rumor Festival Utrecht, Club Super Deluxe Tokyo, Harvard University, American Academy-Rome), Chiffre Trio (Ysbreker, Amsterdam), and with members of ensembles such as Klangforum Wien, Insomnio and Holland Sinfonia.
In 2004 Steve Lacy invited her to a residency at Atlantic Center for the Arts to explore the intersection of improvisation and composition. She also worked with choreographer Elizabeth Streb during this residency.
She has lectured on contemporary music, given master-classes and recitals at UC San Diego, University of Buffalo, Stanford, UC Davis, Cal Arts, UT Austin, USC and Shepherd School of Music at Rice. Her projects have been sponsored by the Gaudeamus Foundation, the Dutch Consulate, the Copland Foundation, and Chamber Music America. The last two two years she was a Visiting Fellow at the University of Southampton, UK, where she researched ways to integrate text/movement/theater/multi-media into contemporary instrumental performance. She is continuing in this direction with her solo work.
She studied bass clarinet with Harry Sparnaay at the Amsterdam Conservatory, clarinet with Fred Ormand at the University of Michigan, and privately with Rosario Mazzeo in California. She is also a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, where she studied with Richard MacDowell.