Michael Webster is Professor of Clarinet at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music and Artistic Director of the Houston Youth Symphony. Described by the Boston Globe as “a virtuoso of burgeoning prominence,” he has collaborated with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Tokyo, Cleveland, Muir, Ying, Leontóvych, and Chester String Quartets and Yo Yo Ma, among others. He has been associated with many of North America's finest festivals, including Marlboro, Santa Fe, Chamber Music West and Northwest, Norfolk, Angel Fire, Orcas Island, Maui, Steamboat Springs, Sitka, Park City, Skaneateles, Stratford (Ontario), ARIA,Victoria (BC), and Domaine Forget (Quebec). As a soloist he has appeared with many orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Boston Pops, and was for many years Aaron Copland's favorite interpreter of his Clarinet Concerto. Webster's recital career began at Town Hall in 1968 with his renowned father, Beveridge Webster, as pianist. That same year he won Young Concert Artists' International Competition and became Principal Clarinetist of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, a position he held for 20 years. Since then he has performed in all of New York City's major halls, across the United States, and in Canada, South America, Japan, Holland, Australia, and New Zealand. He has appeared as guest artist at the 92nd Street “Y", Da Camera of Houston, and Context. High Fidelity/Musical America placed his CRI recording of American clarinet music on its Best Recordings list and Artists International selected him for its Distinguished Artist Award. Webster has served as Acting Principal Clarinetist of the San Francisco Symphony, Music Director of the Society for Chamber Music in Rochester, Founder and Music Director of Chamber Music Ann Arbor, and Associate Professor of Clarinet at the Eastman School of Music, from which he earned three degrees. In 1988 he became a member of the conducting faculty