| Airport layovers aren’t usually exciting. But on one trip home from Japan, Shannon Orme used the lag time between flights to visit some of China’s most famous sights, including the Great Wall. It would become one more adventure for an already-experienced traveler, and certainly one of her favorites.
The musical career of the DSO’s new clarinetist has given her many opportunities to travel. Orme left her home in Hillsboro, Va., to attend high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy near Traverse City, where she studied with Richard Hawkins on IAA’s performance faculty. “I’ve always been curious and independent. I started traveling at such a young age,” she says. “Hopping on a plane and going somewhere was never really scary.”
Orme continued her education earning a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University in Chicago and a Master of Music degree from the University of Southern California. International travels ensued with a move to Japan, where she spent two years as a member of the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra.
“Japanese culture is extremely memorable. It’s fascinating because it’s so different from American culture,” she says. “Their culture has a different way of thinking about your life and your role in society.” Some of her other favorite vacations have involved hiking in the Alps in Switzerland and visiting wine trails in Germany.
As much as Orme enjoys traveling and spending time in other countries, she most fondly remembers her childhood in Virginia and at Grandale, her family’s farm. “Virginia is my home. It’s where my family is located,” she says. “I remember playing in hay, making forts, and playing cowboys and Indians with my brothers and dad. It was fun growing up and having a lot of space to play.”
Today, Orme continues to contribute to the farm’s planning, especially the agri-educational activities and elegant country restaurant her family opened in 2005. Her fondness for home, she says, is combined with an appreciation for the people who supported her musical endeavors.
To honor her mother, who Orme lost to cancer in 1997, she has twice completed the Chicago Marathon raising funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. “The physical challenge of training for a marathon is very similar to the mental preparation for an orchestra audition," she says, “including time, stamina, focus, complete control of nerves. The training really helped me focus musically and also allowed me to thank my mother for being so supportive.”
She is also grateful to her many teachers beginning with Richard Hawkins at Interlochen. In college, she began on bass clarinet, studying with Chicago Symphony Orchestra clarinetist, J. Lawrie Bloom. “He was very influential,” she says. Renowned clarinetist Yehuda Gilad, who taught Orme while she was getting her master’s degree at the University of Southern California, made another significant impression.
This valuable education, support from family and teachers, and the experience of performing in a variety of locations helped become the musician she is today, Orme says. “I like this profession. It keeps each day interesting and each day challenging. I get to do what I love and am lucky.”
Orme also takes great pride in being a member of the DSO. “Getting this job was a blessing. It’s a great group of people. They are all very accomplished musicians,” she says. “We can’t imagine ourselves doing anything else.”
Daniel Sczomak is an intern in the DSO’s Public Relations Department. Reach him by email at dsczomak@dso.org.
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