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, Peabody Symphony Orchestra, Peabody Conductors’ Orchestra, and the Colorado College Summer Music Festival Orchestra. 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.

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. He was recently a finalist in the 2024 Sydney Forrest Clarinet Competition in College Park, Maryland, and a finalist in Peabody's 2025 Yale Gordon Competition for winds, brass, percussion, and harp.

On August 10th, 2025, Elias returned to Santa Cruz for a recital with pianist Kate Saphir Alm and violist Andy Park, featuring Mozart's Kegelstatt Trio, Clara Schumann's Drei Romanzen, Johanna Magdalena Beyer's overlooked Suite for Clarinet I, Rebecca Clarke's Prelude, Allegro, and Pastorale, and Larry Polansky's kaddish (ladder) canon.

Elias is currently pursuing a Master of Music in Clarinet Performance at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University under Alexander Fiterstein.