Gunnar Owen Hirthe, a Wisconsin native is an active performer of contemporary and classical clarinet music. As clarinet soloist for Cleveland’s No Exit New Music Ensemble, he regularly premiers new works for solo clarinet and chamber ensemble by local and internationally acclaimed composers. Gunnar is also Adjunct Instructor of Clarinet at the College of Wooster and Cleveland State University in Ohio, where he maintains studios of music education, music therapy and non-music majors. Gunnar has had the privilege to perform with professional chamber, wind, orchestral and faculty ensembles throughout the Midwest; with Arlo Guthrie at Carnegie Hall in New York; with Andrea Bocelli and the Cleveland Pops; and to collaborate with such contemporary classical composers as: Keith Fitch, Andrew Rindfeisch, David Lang, Steven Stucky, Sean Shepherd, Nils Vigelund, Michael Quell, Greg D’Allesio, Kieran McMillan, Amy Williams, Roger Zahab, Mikel Kuehn, John McCowen, Hong-Da Chin, Evan Chambers, Evan Ziporyn, Christopher Goddard, Christopher Stark, Michael Finnissy, and Dai Fujikura (to name a few). He was also a soloist with the Green Bay Youth Symphony, The Ohio State University Symphony Orchestra, the Suburban Symphony Orchestra in Cleveland, the Wooster Symphony Orchestra, and the Cleveland State Symphonic Winds. A doctoral recipient from Bowling Green State University’s Doctoral Program in Contemporary Music under the mentorship of Mr. Kevin W. Schempf, Gunnar has recently completed his dissertation titled Identity in the Clarinet Music of Michael Finnissy and Evan Ziporyn. This research aims to bring further understanding to the world of music inspired by cultures other than what we experience in the Western art music tradition and what these intersections mean to these composers, the performer, and their audiences. He has earned bachelor’s degrees in Music Education and Performance from the University of Kentucky with Dr. Scott J. Wright; a master’s degree in Music Performance from The Ohio State University with the late Mr. James M. Pyne; and has a Professional Studies Diploma from the Cleveland Institute of Music where he studied with world-renowned clarinetist and former Principal Clarinetist of the Cleveland Orchestra, Mr. Franklin Cohen